The Two Faces of Revenge
by RevengefulAddict
Summary: Sequel to For Love and Revenge. The revenge of Good is called Justice. But what is the revenge of Evil? When one promise collides with romance...lets just call it mayhem. Warnings: Shounenai, violence, colorful language, etc.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Well as promised, the sequel to "For Love and Revenge" is here! So a few things before we begin

Warnings: Shounen-ai, slight OOC, Violence, Swearing, derty jokes, and real-life situations. This ain't a fairy-tale world. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman.exe or any of the characters… I just wish I do.

**The Two Faces of Revenge**

**Chapter 1: **Nightmares, Battles and Band-aids.

**0000000**

Emerald eyes took in the scenery as a young black haired boy entered into a cozy office. The room was lined with bookshelves with all sorts of novels, plaques, and other items fitted for the office. The teen walked up to his father's desk, seating himself before the wooden desk.

"You called for me, father?" he asked as he sat down.

"Yes yes, I was wondering if I could borrow that navi of yours. Irae. I just need her program for a bit."

Rukku took his PET and gave it to the older man seated behind the desk. "Pardon my asking, but may I inquire as to why you need her?"

"I'm working on a little project to get rid of those pests ruining my company." The older man sighed at the thought of the havoc that had been coursing through his beloved company. He was sure it was his older son, though he couldn't be positive.

"Oh." Rukku nodded, "Then let her be of complete service to you. Return her when you wish."

The pale little navi sighed inwardly, though showed no emotion. As Rukku left the room, she feared worse treatment with the older man than her own net-op. Not that her net-op treated her halfway decent, but that was another story.

"Oh my little pretty, you're going to be part of such sweet revenge." The older man smirked before plugging her into his computer.

**0000000**

"We can't just leave her there!" a weak, red female navi ran toward Irae, who sat chained to the seat of doom. Literally.

"Go with Rockman!" A green navi pulled her back. "I can handle the locks faster and I'm in a lot better shape." The female nodded then exited with a blue comrade through a hexagonal shape portal.

"Wh…why are you helping me?" Irae asked, surprised.

"We leave no man behind. We may not know you, but that's no reason for you to be deleted!" He took off the locks around her wrists then ankles. The beast behind her was about to explode any minute, and in fact, the whole area seemed as if it would destruct at any moment.

She heard Shuuseki's voice curse at one of the net-ops. "Kuso…Enzan! You'll pay for this!"

"Heh, so you think." The net-op challenged before Irae stepped into the remote gate, along with the green navi.

They arrived back at a network foreign to her senses. By her analysis, it looked to be a net inside of a statue.

"My name's Rockman" the blue navi introduced, reaching out his hand. She looked at it curiously, then shook it lightly.

"and I'm Netto, his net-op." A link screen appeared behind the one called Rockman, showing a brown haired teen, "What's your name?"

"I…" she spoke softly, "Irae."

"I'm Searchman, and my operator is Laika." The green navi who previously saved her introduced himself, along with his net-op—an older teen with light sea-foam colored hair.

She shook his hand and looked at him gratefully, "Thank you…for saving me."

"Nah, Rockman. She seems a lot like Iris, you know?" the one named Netto asked his navi.

"Where's your operator? Where are you from?" Laika asked

She looked down, "I…I don't know. I don't remember."

"Let's go to the official's center. They'll help you find your operator and give you a place to stay until then." Rockman offered.

"…thank you…for your kindness…" she continued to speak quietly, still looking down. These people were so kind to her, for some reason this felt like a foreign feeling. She didn't know what had happened in her past, but she knew that this kindness was certainly new

"Sheesh, you speak like you've never even heard of it before!" the brunette spoke up then began to quarrel with the blue haired net-op.

_I know that green outfit…he must be a sharro soldier. What would he be doing here? Unless…no…could it be? Shuuseki _did _have another son but…are these the three fabled net-saviors?_

**0000000**

"Don't you DARE ever run off like that again!" Pain ran through her body as her operator scolded her with an electric shock "How stupid could you be? Running away and then going to the officials center?! You're just a stupid, idiotic program, you know that Irae?"

Irae fell to her knees, breathing hard with her head hanging down. She was thankful for her long hair, which kept her net-op from seeing her tears. "Go…GOMENASAI!" Running away? Had she done that? She couldn't remember, but she said nothing.

Another shock ran through her body and she wept harder.

"And don't you dare raise your voice at me!"

Suddenly a voice ran through her head, "R…Master…your father seeks conference with you in his office."

Rukku frowned. "I'll be back, and don't you dare go anywhere!"

After her net-op left, Irae pulled her knees close to her body as she hung her head. She let out the tears she had desperately trying to contain and sobbed.

_They were so nice…_ Irae bit her lip. _ How…Why? The green one…Searchman even rescued me without even knowing who I was…I wonder if I'll ever see them again…_

**0000000**

"Did you punish the little traitor?" Shuuseki asked as he looked out the window.

"Thoroughly, sir." Rukku replied with a smirk. "You have my sincerest apologies. I assure you she won't cause any more trouble."

"Hmph. She better not!" Shuuskei sighed, "Rukku…if I die…you must promise me one thing…"

"Yes father?"

"Promise me you will get revenge."

Rukku frowned, "…I promise."

**0000000**

Two years had passed since Vengeance had eliminated Shuuseki once and for all. Who, what, when and where all remained a mystery to those not involved, but Rukku was dead certain that Enzan and Sarena were the culprits.

Taking his briefcase and tossing his coat over his shoulder, Rukku walked out of the large building. The large letters of "IPC" perched atop the tower of which the black-haired, 16 year-old exited. The night was approaching and the sun had already set. His father's words echoed through his ears as he remembered one of the lasts conversations he had with his father.

Promise me you will get revenge 

Rukku clenched his fist. _I promised him…but I have yet to fulfill that promise…_

At the same time, another black haired man locked up a bowling center just across the street up ahead.

"Nah, where are we going for dinner?" Rukku heard the brunette who accompanied the black haired man as they crossed the street in front of him.

"That's a surprise." The older and taller one grinned.

Once they had crossed the street and reached the sidewalk, the brunette stood in front of the other and began to walk backwards. Rukku, who had begun to tune out the conversation, looked to the horizon to watch the sunset.

"Netto-kun! Watch out!" The older warned seconds too late.

Netto had succeeded in knocking both himself and Rukku over, in which Rukku's briefcase spilled open.

"Itai…" Netto whined, "Gomen! Gomen!" He immediately began to help clean up the spilled papers. Enzan ran after a few papers that had been carried away by the wind.

As he picked one up, he noticed the company insignia, and upon further inspection, he recognized the name that had been printed numerous times on the letter. _Kuso…This is Rukku! _ Handing the letters to Rukku, who took them quite hastily and aggravated, Enzan spoke up. "Gomen, Ijuuin-san. My boyfriend can be quite a klutz sometimes." He apologized.

Netto's eyes nearly burst out of their sockets at Enzan's first statement. "Uh…oh! Hai! Please forgive my carelessness."

"What a way to ruin the day…" Rukku mumbled to himself, ignoring the apologies, "Get knocked over by a bunch of fags." He rudely pushed past the two, walking away rather quickly.

Netto growled, "Well if you're so homo-phobic, you could at least look a little less gay yourself!"

Enzan couldn't help but laugh at Netto's insult. It was true that Rukku did look a little, well, metro-sexual to say in the least.

Rukku clenched his fists but continued walking away, shaking his head and mumbling.

Enzan shook his head, taking Netto's hand to help calm the younger one down.

"Can you believe that jerk!?" Netto fumed.

"Sadly, I can. He's just like my father." Enzan frowned suddenly, "Which gives me reason to be afraid."

"What can he do?" He doesn't even know you!"

"No, but he's just as rude, heartless and sadistic as my father. Plus he's the president of IPC now."

"I wouldn't worry about it. We've been okay up to this point, haven't we?" Netto reassured.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just paranoid."

"It's weird though…" Netto mused.

"What is?"

"You two look very similar. If it weren't for the age difference, I'd say you two look identical."

"Please." Enzan scoffed, "I'm way more handsome than that prepubescent punk."

**0000000**

The resounding shrill of a gunshot pierced through Netto's ear. Time seemed to be in slow motion as he turned to see a bullet easing its way through a man standing innocently on the sidewalk. He saw it all, the small silver shell gliding through the air, the breaking of the man's skin as it entered, and the blood that followed with exit of the bullet. He ran after the man who began to fall, but he could only move so fast in this slow-motion world he was stuck in.

Suddenly, the world began to resume in real-time, and Netto collapsed beside the body. "Enzan! NO! ENZAN!" he cried out, but Enzan would not respond. "Somebody help! He's dying! Enzan's dying!"

"Ijuuin Enzan is already dead!" a passer-by exclaimed, not making any effort to help the brunette.

"He died over a year ago. He's dead." Another person stated calmly.

"Dead…Dead…Dead…" People began to gather around him, chanting monotonously.

"No…NO!" Netto pulled Enzan close to him, crying on his shoulder.

"You lost him again, Netto-kun. This time he's gone for good." Meiru walked out of the crowd, dressed in the same black clothing she had worn while being corrupted by the dark soul.

"You've failed your duty as a lover, Netto-san. You couldn't even protect him." Sarena walked out as well, digging her hands in her coat pockets.

"We should have known he wasn't safe with you. You're too weak." Laika joined her as he walked out of the crowd.

"So disgusting. At least he's finally dead." Another voice called. Not recognizing it, Netto looked up to see Rukku standing there in a green hooded sweatshirt and black pants.

Suddenly the whole crowd began to close in on him, as well as the 'friends' who had walked out. They began to chant again, "Dead…Dead…Dead…"

"No! It can't be!" Netto felt Enzan's pulse…there was none. "NOOOO! ENZAN!"

Netto sat straight up in bed, breathing a sigh of relief as one usually does when waking up from a nightmare. He looked around to see Rockman still sleeping peacefully in his PET, and the small apartment calm and still in the wrap of night's clothes. He got out of bed and quietly tiptoed out to the bathroom and saw his face was covered in tears.

_That dream…_

Netto hung his head as the tears began to form once again, crying quietly. Once he composed himself, he wiped his face and began to get dressed. He picked up the phone and quietly began to dial.

"Ngh…if this is a solicitor you're FREAKING CRAZY. DO YOU KNOW HOW LATE IT IS?! I-"

"Enzan-kun it's Netto!" Netto whispered as loudly as he could.

"Ergh…Netto-kun?"

"Hai…can I come over?"

Enzan rolled on his back and sighed as he picked up the quiver in his boyfriend's voice, "…yeah…I guess. But do you have any idea how late it is?!" Enzan rolled back on his side to look at the clock, "Three friggen in the morning!"

"Yeah, I know. I just…I just need to talk to you, okay?"

"Hai. See you soon." Enzan mumbled before hanging up.

Netto did not bother waking Rockman up, but took his PET just in case of emergency. On the drive over, Netto couldn't help but slip into fits of tears as he remembered his dream. Finally arriving at Enzan's small, one-bedroom apartment, Netto knocked on the door. Enzan answered, yawning, and running a hand through his messy black hair.

"Sorry for waking you up like this, it's just…"

Enzan immediately spotted the brunette's teary eyes as he allowed him in and shut the door behind. "What's wrong?"

"I'm so glad you're alive." Netto launched a hug on Enzan, who looked at the boy surprised.

"Of course I am…I never died, y'know."

Netto pulled away, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, I know…I just…I had a dream that you died…and I saw it all happen…but I couldn't do anything to stop it."

They sunk down onto his couch and Enzan sighed, "Y'know, if you come over every time you have a bad dream, I'm afraid I'll get crankier than I already am."

"I know, I know. I just…I just needed to know you're really alive. Reassurance, I guess."

"Does Rockman know you're here?"

"Nah, he's still sleeping." Netto shuddered, "They were all chanting, 'dead…dead…dead'. Sarena-san and Laika-kun were there…so was Meriu-chan and Rukku. But it was the possessed Meiru-chan." He looked down, "It felt so real."

Enzan wrapped his arm around the brunette, ruffling his hair. "You don't have your bandanna for once."

"Yeah, I don't wear it to bed. Guess I forgot to put it on when I got dressed."

"I'm surprised. I thought that thing was glued to your head."

"Hey!"

"Though I think you look …well, I wouldn't say better, but the bandanna isn't exactly flattering." Enzan looked over to see Netto nearly glaring at him, "But if you didn't wear it, and I wasn't expecting you, I probably wouldn't have recognized you."

"But I love my bandanna!" Netto pouted.

"More than me?"

Netto playfully pushed him away. "Well since you wouldn't recognize me without it, yes. More than you." he stuck his tongue out at the older, who chuckled.

"Well you didn't recognize me when I dyed my hair all-black. So maybe I love white hair more than you."

"Hey! That was different! I thought you were dead!" Netto shuddered, thinking of his dream again. "But you're not dead…you're right here…" he looked down.

"That must've been some dream. "

"You have no idea. When you were shot, everything was in slow-mo detail. It was as if I were watching some Discovery channel in-depth special on 'what it looks like when someone is shot!'" Netto mocked, shaking his head.

"Ew." Enzan replied simply. "Well I'm right here." He wrapped his arms around the younger, pulling him closer and letting the brunette rest in his arms. He leaned his head on the back of the couch, unaware of his own consciousness slowly slipping away from him into the world of dreams. Netto noticed this and nestled closer, closing his eyes and letting himself fall into sleep as well.

The next morning Enzan awoke first, of course. He looked down at the brunette who lay sleeping in his arms and smiled, stroking his chocolate hair.

"Ngh…five more minutes, Rockman." Netto mumbled.

"I'm not Rockman, Netto-kun." Enzan chuckled at the younger's response.

"Eh?" Netto looked up and blinked at the older. "Enzan-kun? Oh…that's right. We must've fallen asleep."

"Waking one up at three in the morning would do that." He said, detaching himself from the younger and stretching as he stood up.

Netto sprawled out on the couch, using his arm as a pillow. "Nrgh…I need my beauty sleep. It was restless, y'know?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go take a shower. You take one when I'm done."

Netto, now more awake, grinned. "As opposed to taking one at the same time?"

Enzan tossed a pillow that had fallen on the floor at the brunette. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

Netto caught the pillow and fixed it underneath his head, "Nah, I took a shower last night. I'll just wash my face when- " Netto yanwed, "when I wake up."

"Alright, sleeping beauty." Enzan said as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Never really falling back asleep, Netto simply laid on the couch, now with the dream out of his head. He had other things to think about, such as the upcoming net-battle tourney that had been announced not too long ago. It was a partner tourney, which meant he had to find someone to net-battle with. The only problem with having Enzan be his partner meant that everyone would see Blues, which would raise many questions.

Enzan walked out of the shower with only a towel around his waist. Netto looked up and Enzan caught his gaze. "I know what you're thinking but I _just_ took a shower. I don't want to have to take another one."

"Yeah sure. And you say my mind's in the gutter." Netto grunted before taking the pillow, chucking it at Enzan, and missing by a long shot.

"You have horrible aim."

"Yeah, yeah. Get dressed before I make you take another shower." Netto waved him away sleepily and Enzan snorted as he walked into his bedroom.

**00000000**

"Thank god it's Saturday." Netto said as he relaxed in the passenger seat of Enzan's small car.

"Don't you have a paper due on Monday, Netto-kun?" Rockman piped up from the PET.

"Hai, but I've already got half of it done. I'll work on it tomorrow."

"Never put off tomorrow what you can do today." The blue navi chimed as he appeared on Netto's shoulder.

"But I can't do anything today." Netto grinned, "Enzan's holding me hostage!"

"Oh sure. Blame me. You're the one that came over, remember?"

"Besides," Netto said, ignoring Enzan's comment, "We're just going out for breakfast."

The two arrived at their favorite morning restaurant and were seated almost immediately by a pretty, bright-eyed red head. "And what can I get for you two love birds?"

"The usual, Meiru-chan." Netto grinned happily.

"I'll start off with a coffee. I've yet to decide what I want." Enzan told her as he looked down at the menu.

"Alright, I'll have that right out for you!" she put away her pad of paper as she walked away.

"Have you heard about the net battle tourney coming up?" Netto asked

"Hai. I was going to ask you the same thing."

"I don't know how we could enter though. Apparently it's a partner tourney all the way till the end. Then the final pair will separate and battle each other. That would mean you and I would battle." Netto explained.

"Just like old days, eh?"

"Hmm…but don't expect me to hold back." Netto smirked.

"Why would I expect that?" Enzan grinned, "You know without a doubt I wouldn't hold back either."

"Heh. Good." Netto crossed his arms, "But the only problem is that Blues would raise a lot of questions."

Enzan shrugged, "We can disguise him."

"Design chips…good idea." Netto thought. "We should go sign up when we're done then."

"I just hope there's no real reason behind this tourney. Like the world is ending again or something."

"That would be a pain. I just want to battle for fun." Netto set his PET on the table, allowing a holographic Rockman to walk about freely. Enzan did likewise with Blues.  
"It would be fun to battle alongside you through the prelims and such."

"We'd toast everyone." Enzan smirked as he looked through the menu.

"Of course."

Meiru returned with a cup of tea for Netto and Enzan's coffee. "Are you ready to order?"

"Hai. I'll have the Belgian waffle with strawberries on the side." Enzan ordered.

"Alright, and how would you like your eggs?" She asked as she scribbled down the order

"Scrambled, please." He replied.

"Okay." She finished scribbling then looked up, "And Netto-kun, your breakfast should be done in a few minutes. Do you want me to bring it out right away or wait until his is done?" Meiru asked the brunette.

"Eh, bring it out first, if you could." Netto told her, feeling his stomach growl with hunger.

"Alright, I'll have that out soon, and I'll put your order in right away, Enzan-kun." She told them.

"Arigatou, Meriu-chan." Enzan nodded and the redhead walked away.

Netto watched as she walked over to the counter to help a few customers who were entering. Among the faces, Netto noticed a familiar blonde waiting in the back. After seating the cluster of customers, she walked back to the entrance. The blonde leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Look's like Yosuke-kun's here." Netto told Enzan as he watched Meiru point to their table.

Meiru chan walked back to the kitchen while Yosuke made his way over to their table. "Hope you two don't mind me dropping in like this."

"Not at all." Netto smiled politely scooted closer to Enzan in effort to make room for the third person.

"So how're you guys doing?" Yosuke asked the two as he sat down.

"I'm doing great. How's the team?" Enzan asked.

"We're doing good, but we miss you and Sarena-san." Yosuke smiled, "Although, those positions have been filled."

"Oh really? By who?"

"Well a girl named Hanakoro Aria took Sarena's position, and you're speaking to captain Red."

"Congrats." Enzan nodded in approval.

Yosuke then rubbed his head sheepishly, "Although, Meiru-chan doesn't like it so much. She's afraid I'll get killed."

Netto laughed, "That's her for you. She's fiercely loyal, but a total worrywart. She once beat me up because she was so worried about me."

"I remember that." Enzan smirked.

Do you wish to join them, Enzan-sama? Blues asked as they watched Netto and his friends celebrate their victory over Forte.

"_Not my thing." Enzan turned, then sweat dropped as he watched Netto being pounded on by an over-joyed Meiru , "Also…I'm a little afraid to." _

"Just carry a few band-aids with you at all times." Netto grinned.

Yosuke raised an eyebrow, "I'll…remember that."

**0000000**

Muahahahaha my little minions! I have you hooked! And now you'll have to stay with me for the remainder of the story! –laughs manically- I mean…

Hehe, well, seeing as I'm also an artist, I drew mugshots of Enzan and Rukku. You'll have to copy and paste the link into your browser, but they're well worth the look –hint hint- http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9227/scan0002eb3.png

Tis all. Reviews are muchly appreciated!


	2. Dressup XD

**Chapter 2: Dress-up (XD)  
**

**0000000**

Enzan pawed through a selection of design chips, appearances ranging from cute to freakish. Something _strong _looking would've been nice. He lifted his gaze towards Netto when he heard the brunette laughing.

Netto held up a chip, and with further inspection, Enzan sweatdropped. "A maid outfit?" Rockman snickered as well.

"Well…it would certainly throw people off, and his hair _is _ long enough…" Netto continued to snicker.

"That'd look so weird and wrong." Enzan shook his head as he resumed looking through the racks of chips.

"Thank you, Enzan-sama." Blues said behind clenched teeth.

"Ah…" Enzan smiled as he pulled out a chip. "This will look good…" Enzan plugged his PET into a small black machine in the middle of the rack and scanned the barcode on the chip. No sooner did the outfit appear on Blues.

"Nice." Netto approved as he leaned over.

Blues' main outfit had become white with black stripes, and his boots, gloves, and bodice piece became silver. A black cloak wrapped around his shoulders and was held on by silver chain links. His normally red helmet turned completely black, and two smaller white "fin"s sat parallel to curve of the black helmet. His visor remained purple, but the white stripe that circled his helmet disappeared.

Netto plugged in his PET as well to let Rockman have a better look. "It looks…amazing." Rock stumbled out, very much impressed by the new colors. The monochromatic style gave Blues an eerie ghost-like glow, which was only accentuated by his silvery-white hair.

Netto snickered before quickly scanning the barcode on the chip he had picked up earlier.

"NETTO-KUN!" Rockman shouted as the maid-outfit formed on him. He was _not _ happy, but somehow the angry and blushing expression actually made him look a little, well…cute.

"You are so evil." Enzan shook his head, raising an eyebrow.

Both navi's blushed before Netto pressed a button on the machine, removing the humiliating outfit. Rockman sighed as he was returned to normal, and was even more delighted at the payback Enzan delivered for him. "Now Netto-kun, I know dressing Rockman up in girls clothes might be an orgy for you, but please, not in the store!"

"Nani?!" Netto nearly screamed, giving Rockman the last laugh.

Enzan looked at the scarlet blush on Netto and just…laughed. Seeing the brunette fired up was somehow hilarious. Rockman had already joined the laughing, and Blues gave an amused "hn.".

It was times like these—times where Netto said something stupid, or when his density left Enzan to explain everything in black and white…times when the brunette was fired with childish anger that wouldn't last for more than a minute, or overzealous with happiness—yes, times like these when Enzan found himself on top of the world. He once had been fully dependent on himself and needed no one; Netto had changed all that. Now, he couldn't imagine being independent and he couldn't live without the simple-minded yet so complex brunette.

It scared him to think what would happen if he ever lost Netto or if Netto ever left him, but Enzan trusted the brunette enough that the latter was less of a fear.

"What do you think Blues?" Rockman asked

"Huh?"

"Your outfit. Do you like it?"

"It's nice." Blues grinned a little, "Do you like it?"

"Hai! Very much!" Rockman smiled childishly, "like I said. It looks amazing. The crowd will be awed."

"Hopefully they'll be more focused on our battling than our appearances." Blues mused.

"Oh but fashion magazines get a kick outa that stuff though." Netto spoke up

"And how would you know?" Enzan lifted an eyebrow as he unplugged Blues from the machine

"A girl at work leaves her magazines in the back room all the time. I've snuck a peak once or twice." Netto shook his head, unplugging his PET as well, "I'll never understand women and their shoes."

The two walked up to the counter to pay for Enzan's design chip, "Even I don't understand it, and I'm brilliant."

"Gee, don't try to be humble or anything!" Netto rolled his eyes as he leaned on the counter. As Enzan paid for his chip, The younger one smiled. Of course Enzan wasn't humble; if Enzan had been humble, he would have never stood out to Netto as such a fierce opponent. If Enzan had been humble, he would have never worked his way under Netto's skin and gotten on his nerves. If Enzan had been humble, Netto would never even be standing next to him, thinking about all the reasons why he loved Enzan's non-humble self. And it made him laugh; it made him laugh to think that he was actually _happy _ that Enzan wasn't a humble person at all.

"Alright, I won't." Enzan turned toward him with a big, fake smile as he took the chip from the clerk.

"Have a good day, Sokatishe-san."

"Arigatou." Enzan nodded before walking away with Netto.

"Jerk." Netto smiled as he took Enzan's hand in his.

"Ah, yes. That's me." Enzan smiled proudly as they walked ahead.

**0000000**

"Uh, Ijuuin-san?" A brown-haired girl peeked her head in the door.

"Hai?"

She entered, bowing, "My father's company wanted me to give you this invitation." She said meekly, handing a manilla envelope to Rukku.

The black haired teen took the invitation while the girl stood there, fidgeting in her clothes. _Oooh, he's so handsome! I wonder if he notices me…probably not. He probably thinks I'm too lowly for him. Oh, I am, but I would do anything for him!_

"Kana-san…"

"HAI!" She said, snapping out of her daze

"Give your father my reply. I will be participating in the tourney." He said calmly.

"Hai!" she responded again, turning to leave.

"And, Kana-san, this is a partner tourney, right?"

"…Hai…it is." She turned, blinking.

"How good are you at net-battling?" Rukku smirked.

Kana blushed, "F…fine….I mean! I'm great! Well, not to be conceited, but I'm good and-"

"Meet me at this address at 7:00" Rukku took a post-it-note and wrote down an address before giving the yellow square of paper to the over-ecstatic brunette. "Don't be late."

"I won't! Thank you!" she bowed quickly, her short hair bobbing as she did so. She walked to the door, but turned to look back at Rukku and smile before walking out the door. "I look forward to working with you!"

Rukku nodded and Kana quickly exited. _The daughter of Yellow Tech Laboratories' President would most likely be skilled net-battler. It'll work out perfect if she is._

As Kana walked quickly past the cubicles, she held the yellow piece of paper to her chest happily. _Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I might be working with him! I can't mess up tonight! I can't!_

"Raiden! Can you believe it?" Kana asked her little yellow navi as they walked out the door of IPC's main building. "We'll have to do our best tonight!" she said with a cute, determined face.

"Hai, although I hear Irae is a tough opponent."

"All the better if we're partners with them! Let's just do our best!" Kana smiled as she slipped into a taxi.

**0000000**

"What are you going to rename Blues?" Netto asked as they rode over to Yellow Tech Labs the next day to sign up for the tourney. Some would wonder why a laboratory would be the place to apply, but it proved to be the best place to run physicals and data checks on each navi to make sure they were "healthy" enough to participate.

"I was thinking. What's the synonym of rock?"

Netto took a minute. "Oh you mean like a rock from the ground. Uh…a stone?" his eyes widened, "Oh! Stoneman!"

"That's a bit trite." Enzan sweatdropped, "Just Stone."

"Sharp." Netto nodded in approval.

"Sounds like he has a heart of stone." Rockman said with a grin. "But I know he has a soft side."

"But others don't know that. I will show no mercy to any of our opponents."

"Stone cold." Netto mused "I remember when you two really were like that."

"I will never be like that again." Enzan shook my head.

"Why?

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes you."

"Why me?"

They pulled up to the curb and Enzan quickly turned off the car, "Because you changed me." He said, looking at Netto as they sat in his car. He got out of the car, leaving a blushing Netto staring off into space. "Hurry up, or all the positions will be filled!"

"Hai." Netto undid his seatbelt and got out of the car to catch up with Enzan. Enzan, however, stopped in his tracks.

"Kuso…"

"Huh?" Netto asked.

"He's going to be in the tourney too?" Enzan asked as he watched a Limo drop off a certain black haired teen.

Rukku got out of the limo, straightening the tie around his neck and the suit coat which hugged him in the most flattering fashion. He was escorted to the door by two men in sunglasses before disappearing from sight.

"Sheesh, he must think he's king of these lands." Netto mused. "Well at least you can revel in glory when you send him home with his tail between his legs."

"Heh." Enzan smirked as he began walking to the door again, "I'm looking forward to that."

Enzan and Netto waited patiently as Rukku filled out his portion of the form.

"And your partner?"

"Tsumejima Kana. I believe she's already filled out her form?"

"Oh yes, she has. Now if you could go down that hallway and turn where you see the sign, we'll begin the physical process." The woman at the table instructed and Rukku went in the said direction.

When it came time for Netto and Enzan to register, the lady smiled. "You're lucky. We have room for one more team."

"Talk about timing." Netto chuckled.

"If you could please fill out these forms." The woman handed them two clipboards and the young men quickly began scribbling in the information asked. When they were done, they handed them back to her and she gave them the same instructions as Rukku had received.

"That was close."

As they waited in line for the physicals, Netto heard his name being called by a familiar voice.

"Oi! Netto-kun! Ryuke-kun"

The brunette turned his head and smiled at the familiar face. "Mika!" Netto called, remembering to use her fake name. He looked past the black haired girl to the aqua-haired man behind her. "Laika-kun!"

"You guys finished registering?"

"Hai." Laika responded. "We were going to call you after we were done. We didn't expect to run into you so soon."

"We only just arrived a few hours ago." Sarena dug her hands into her coat pocket. Both were wearing their Sharro uniforms.

"You will never guess who's up ahead." Enzan whispered.

Sarena looked over, but couldn't see the person's face.

"Who?"

"Rukku."

Sarena gaped. "kuso."

"Yeah, no kidding. If any one of us slip up with our names, it could be all over. Especially when he sees Rockman. We don't know how much he knows about us."

"Have you disguised Blues?"

Enzan held up his PET. "Meet Stone."

"Nice." She chuckled.

"So did you guys come here just for the tournament?" Netto asked.

"Well there's that…"Sarena looked up at Laika and smiled, "and there's also this." She held out her hand to reveal a small diamond sitting on her ring finger.

"We're engaged." Laika said with an actual smile.

"Congratulations!" Netto said happily

Enzan nodded in approval with a suffice smile. "Congrats. When's the wedding?"

"Not this coming may, but next may." Sarena told the two.

"Ahh. Valentines Day is less than a week away. Seems like there's romance all around!" Netto grinned happily.

"I heard the finals are going to be held on Valentines Day." Sarena mused.

"That kind of stinks." Netto wrinkled his nose.

"Or it could be fun."

"Depends."

"Next!" A lady called as Rukku walked back past the group, ignoring them all together.

"He really thinks he's so great, huh?" Sarena narrowed her eyes as she watched him walk away.

"Guess so. Hey, we'll talk to you later." Enzan told them and the two couples parted ways after an exchange of good byes.

**0000000**

Oi, I felt like this chapter was complete and total crap. Mostly fillerness, and it wasn't even long either. Merf, I do have plans for the future chapters so voilla! The pain of fillers won't last long (hopefully v.v) Thanks for your reviews and support! I'm so happy that FLaR got you all hooked enough to want to read this sequel. You have my deepest thanks once again!


	3. The Real Reason

**Chapter 3: The Real Reason  
**

**00000000**

"The sign-up is now over?"

"Hai. Not one position was left unfilled. People seem quite anxious to show off their skills."

The person chuckled as they looked over the list of participants, "Hikase, I see your son has signed up."

"Netto? Why am I not surprised?" Yuuichiro chuckled as well, "Who is his partner?"

"Sokatishe Ryuke."

The brown haired scientist nodded as he mused, "They'll make quite a team."

"But we must make sure we find the strongest battlers. It's been a while since we had any trouble, and by then new and stronger net battlers may have surfaced."

"Yes, yes. I understand." Yuuichiro nodded. "Has the core grown any?"

"a 20 growth since yesterday. Who knows how many more of these are out there. We don't want to panic the public, but I fear what may happen if these things reach maximum growth."

"What if they fall into hands of a child?" One scientist spoke up.

"Of the wrong hands period. A neo nebula?" Another scientist offered.

Yuuichiro frowned. "Hold that thought." He pulled a small black communicator out of his lab coat pocket.

**0000000**

Netto leaned over and exchanged a brief kiss with his lover before getting out of the car. "See you tomorrow."

"Hai, don't be late." Enzan raised an eyebrow as Netto opened the door and got out

"Don't worry, I will be." Netto grinned as he leaned on the door before shutting it.

Enzan rolled his eyes and pulled out of the parking spot as Netto made his way up to his apartment. As he walked, he noticed something shining on the ground.

"Nani?" he mumbled to himself as he bent over to pick the object up from a crack in the sidewalk.

It was round like a marble, but made out of pure metal with tiny intricate designs. He studied the object closer, seeing that it was made up of layers of metal, with tiny cracks in between each layer. Netto held it up to the light, then held it close to his left eye.

"Netto-kun, papa is calling." Rockman spoke up, startling the brunette a bit.

Netto took the blue PET out of it's holster on his right arm, and the serious and worried face of Hikari Yuuchiro filled nearly half of the holographic screen that appeared. "Netto-kun, we need you and Ryuke-san to head down here to sci-lab right away."

"Egh…he just left, but I'll call him. What's the matter?"

"We're investigating an issue that may be linked to the dark chip surge that happened a few years ago."

Netto bit his tongue. It was going to be hard to explain this. "Hai, I'll call him now." Netto closed the connection with his father and opened a new one to Enzan.

Meanwhile…

"Enzan-sama, you have a call from Netto-san."

"Open it."

"Enzan-kun, papa just called. He wants to meet us at sci-lab."

"What's wrong?"

"Something's going down, and they think it has to do with the darkloid problem you father caused with Rock, Blues and Meiru."

"Oh that'll be fun explaining. At least we'll get to know what's going on."

"Hai. I'll meet you over there in a few."

"Alright, see you then."

Enzan shifted over to the left turn lane and pulled a U-Turn once the lane cleared, "What are we going to tell them? I hate going there. I always get questioning looks about 'why you look so similar to Blues.'"

"Yes, but you just say that I'm a prototype of the 'real' Blues. It's easy enough, right?"

"Hai. But I don't know what to say about our incident? Should we say that we let it go because we could not find the perpetrator and they did not hassle us further?"

"I'd say that is the best explanation." Blues agreed.

"Hm. And something new has surfaced. I wonder if it's related to the tournament."

"Pardon my saying…but…"

"hm?"

"You're awfully talkative today, Enzan-sama. Worried?"

"I suppose I've been on edge ever since we ran into Rukku. That's twice in two days."

"May I remind you of one fact to console your nerves?" Blues offered politely.

"Be my guest."

"He is only 15 and cannot harm you. He does not know who you are."

"Yes, but with Sarena-san also entering the tournament now, I'm nervous that he might put things together. He has my father's brains, and I fear that those are the smart genes."

"Who do you respect most?"

Enzan was slightly taken aback at the question, "Probably Netto-kun, why?"

"Then do what he would do in this situation."

"Not worry about it and hope for the best?" Enzan slightly chuckled to himself.

"Exactly."

Enzan raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "I…guess…That's not my preferred method, and it seems quite risky, but I guess I don't have any other choice." He smiled slightly, "Arigatou, Blues."

Blues nodded, accepting the expression of gratitude with his customary curt nod.

**0000000**

"Kana-chan!" The brunette bowed to the calling voice as she walked into her father's office.

"Yes, father?" she asked politely, "You wanted to see me?"

"I see that you are partnered with Ijuuin-san of IPC for the tournament?"

"Hai!" she beamed. _This will surely win me his praise! _

Her father, however, showed no happiness at the fact. "Be careful of that young man…" he warned.

"N-nani?" she asked a little bewildered at his concern, "What do you mean?"

"I do not trust him. How he appeared so suddenly after Ijuuin Enzan's death raises my suspicion, and I was never fond of his father, Shuuseki."

"Father, I assure you, Ijuuin-san is a very respectable young man. He shows no mal intent toward me. We only share a goal to win this tournament." She wrung her hands slightly as she folded them in front of her grey pencil skirt. _Although I do win to hope his heart too…_

Her father relaxed. "I'm just concerned for you, Kana-chan. That young man has an air about him that I cannot trust. I do not want to see my only daughter get hurt."

Kana smiled weakly, picking up on what kind of hurt he meant. "Of course. I will 'guard my heart' as mother used to say."

"I'm sure she would be proud of you." The father of the brunette smiled warmly, and Kana blushed. "That's all, I just wanted to warn you…keep my little girl safe."

"Thank you papa." She walked around the desk and hugged him. "I'll always be your little girl." She smiled, pulling away, "and I'll win this tournament!"

The man chuckled, "Just do your best."

"You bet!" she smiled as she walked toward the door, "I'll see you at the house later, okay?" Kana said, resting her hand on the door-handle.

"Alright, see you then." He waved before she exited, and sighed once she had. _Please watch over her, Haruka-chan._

**0000000**

"We never found the one responsible for the dark infusion." Enzan explained as he sat at the long table filled with scientists of all departments. They would not tell him or Netto exactly why they needed this information, but the grave expressions on their faces gave them reason to believe in the heaviness of the situation.

"We were able to retrieve our Navis, but even they did not know who they were speaking to when they spoke to the pack leader." Netto explained as well. "We hunted high and low for traces, sources, any possible leads, but nothing came up. We have reason to believe that whoever it was, was caught or killed and no longer a threat to society."

For all the lying he and Netto were doing, there was much truth to what they were saying. Enzan felt like smirking, but he maintained a calm and emotionless face. He wondered how the scientists did not pick up on his "Enzan-like" behavior, but shrugged it off inwardly as a blessing. Sarena had instilled in him a little hope that perhaps his mother really was watching over the two of them.

"But based on their tactics, you believed the terrorists to be a neo-nebula, correct?"

"Hai. Or a resurge of Nebula itself." Enzan did not want to lead the scientists in the wrong direction, but what else could he say? They did consider Nebula as a possibility …at one point…

"Hm…that is all for now. We will contact you when we find any further information." A scientist spoke up with an exasperated sigh as if he viewed the two as a complete waste of time.

"Arigatou." Enzan thanked politely as Netto simply ignored the sarcasm.

The scientists and guests got up from the table and began to walk out of the room. One by one they all left the room until only Netto, Enzan, and Dr. Hikari were left in private.

"Papa…what's going on?" Netto asked concerned.

"I'm not allowed to give any information but…we've come across a strange device, and we're not sure of it's purposes, but we know it grows, and we're sure it's man made."

"Is it round by any chance?" Netto asked, causing Enzan to raise an eyebrow.

"Round?"

"Yes…it is round." The doctor looked at him skeptically, "why?"

"I found this earlier." Netto took the small object he found earlier out of his pocket. "It was on the ground outside of my apartment."

"Have you seen any more like this?" Yuuchiro asked, now more frantic than before.

"It's the first time I've seen one."

"Same here." Enzan echoed.

"If you find anymore, bring them here immediately." The doctor lowered his voice, "It can grow, and it has a network inside of it. We're still trying to figure out the code to let our navi's in, but we think we've found the main source of these…things. It's still in the process of growing though, almost like a human being."

"I thought it was suspicious that Yellow Tech would be hosting a net battle tourney…so this is why." Enzan mused.

"Yes, but you must NOT tell anyone." The doctor lowered his voice even further. "I could lose my job for telling you this."

"We won't tell a soul." Netto reassured, and Enzan nodded.

_So there was a reason. This is just a set up to see who's the strongest. I wonder who it'll be…_ Enzan thought as he looked over at the brunette _…me? Or him?_

The two walked in silence out of the laboratory into the crisp sunny air. Enzan slipped on his sunglasses, shading his blue eyes.

"Enzan-kun…" Netto spoke up. They were just about to part ways, and it was his last chance to speak.

"Hm?"

"You're…embarrassed, aren't you?" Netto asked, his voice resounding with the painful twang of hurt.

"Embarrased?" Enzan raised an eyebrow, "of what?"

Netto leaned forward and took his hand, "Of me. Of us."

Enzan closed his eyes and shook his head, "No. I've already come to terms with that long ago. I'm not ashamed of anything, nor embarrassed."

"Oh…" Netto looked down as he still held onto the other's hand, "Sorry…I just felt like there was something heavy on your mind."

"Slightly. But it's more to do with the tournament and this whole new discovery." He shook his head, "Don't worry about me." Enzan pushed away Netto's chocolate bangs and bandanna and kissed his forehead. "I'm fine."

"Good." Netto smiled with a smug grin. "We wouldn't want you losing your cool before the tournament. The fate of the world rests in our hands yet again."

"The fate of the world…god that's such a corny line." Enzan looked up at the sky as he rolled his eyes.

"Call it whatever you want, but it's bound to be someone trying to 'rule the world' or the universe. And we're the ones that are going to stop them." Netto shrugged as he leaned against Enzan's small, yet simple and sporty red car.

"Damn right." Enzan smirked as he got into the car. Netto walked over and leaned his head in through the window while the older fastened his seat belt. "They'll be sorry for messing with us." Enzan leaned over and gave his boyfriend a peck on the lips. "See you later, worrywart."

"Hey!" Netto called as Enzan began to back out of the parking space.

**0000000**

"Master sir, you have a call. It is from Tsumejima-san." Irae spoke up in her shy and quiet voice.

"Answer."

"Rukku-san! Hi! I was wondering if you wanted to practice later before we have to go to the prelims?"

"Unfortunately I am booked all morning. I'm just about to go into a meeting right now, and you caught me just leaving one." He sighed, "I haven't even gotten a chance to get breakfast."

"Oh, wow. I'm sorry. Well, what time does your last meeting end?"

"Hopefully around one o'clock. The prelims start at three, right?"

"Hai. Well, then I guess I'll meet you later then! Good luck with those meetings." She gave him a sarcastic thumbs up.

"Thanks. See you later." He smiled with minimal effort before hanging up.

1:20 rolled around slowly and painfully before Rukku was able to stumble out of IPC's main meeting room. Kana sat patiently in the lobby, waiting patiently for him to exit. The time came, and the girl smiled widely. "Rukku-san!" she called, running up to the surprised black-haired teen.

"Kana-san, I thought we were meeting at the arena?" He asked, a little bewildered as he held his suit coat over his shoulder.

"Hai…but I figured you'd be hungry." She held out a paper bag and smiled. "A healthy homemade lunch!"

Rukku raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes, thoroughly surprised. "Th-thank you…" he took the bag slowly and observed the simplicity of it. He could have gone and gotten a delicious meal at a fancy restaurant, or even had it delivered to his office. But for some reason he was thankful that he hadn't.

"Oh geeze, it's not poisoned!" she laughed at his surprised motions in which she mistook for precautionary actions. "I know, I'll drive so you can chow down."

"Oh-oh okay." He nodded. Did she forget he could be escorted, and was pretty much escorted everywhere? In fact, she was the vice president of Yellow Tech laboratories—she could even be escorted herself…so why would she drive a car of the simpletons?

As they drove, Rukku ate the meal, which he found to be quite delicious—he couldn't remember the last time he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As he finished, he sat back with satisfaction. "That was delicious. Thank you, Kana-san."

"Don't mention it! I know what it's like to get stuck in meetings when you haven't eaten." She looked at him, laughing.

As she turned, he noticed an interesting grey bead on a necklace. He looked further to see that it looked like some sort of electrical device. "Pardon my asking, but what's on your necklace?"

"Oh this?" she asked, holding the silver chain up in one hand and chuckled embarrassedly, "I found this bead on the ground actually. But it glows a blue aura in the dark, and I do a lot of beading and jewelry making in my spare time."

"It's very pretty."

"Thank you." she smiled, looking ahead as she drove.

"Kana-san…you lost your mother when you were younger, right?"

"Hai…just a few years ago." she said with a little bit of sadness in her voice. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason…I guess I just still think about my father…and the promise I made to him."

"Promise?"

"After his house was bombed the first time, he made me promise that I would avenge his death if he was ever killed. He's been missing for two years now, and I have yet to fulfill that promise…" Rukku looked down, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be telling you this."

"No, no! It's fine. I think people should really talk about their feelings more often. If they always keep them bottled up, it covers a person in darkness and hate, and you never get to see what was once a kind and caring person. But I believe that nice person is still inside them, even if their dark side takes over; The nice side just hidden deep within them." she blushed, "Now I'm sorry…I'm rambling and probably not making any sense."

"No…You make perfect sense." He smiled with all the muscles in his face, a warm kind of smile that made Kana wonder if it was the first time he had ever smiled, "You're a very smart girl."

Kana bit her lip, "Oh…well, I may have intelligence, but sometimes I'm a little lacking in the head, if you know what a I mean." She chuckled nervously, "I've done a few stupid things in my life." she sighed as she pulled into a parking spot in front of the arena. The brunette hesitated before pulling her keys out of the ignition, which was now turned off. "And there's not one I don't regret." Kana slowly lifted her hand pulling out the keys and leaning back.

Rukku sat there watching her, mystified and philosophical. _Such raw emotion. She expresses them like an open book…when she's happy, she smiles. When she's sad, she frowns. And there's nothing she hides….she embraces life, and it's almost as if life embraces her._

She turned and looked at him with a surprising smile. "But you gotta go on living and learn from your mistakes, ne?" she pulled out the keys and got out of the car. "Come on, lets go show them what we're made of!"

Rukku got out of the car a bit slower than the hyper child. _And talk about a moodswing…_

**0000000**

The participants gathered in the main lobby before the arena. Enzan watched through the glass walls for any sight of Rukku's limo as Netto, Laika, and Sarena chatted in their group.

"Netto-san!"

The said turned toward the beckoning voice to be faced with an old friend.

"Torakachi-san!" Netto called back, happy to see an old friend. "You're in the tourney too?"

"Why else would I be here?" Tora cracked a smile.

Meanwhile, a zealous brunette and her less-enthused partner finished signing in. "Wow…they don't look strong, but I hear that the best of the best are signed up." Kana mumbled, looking around

"Well of course, Yellow Tech is sponsoring this event, right?" Rukku asked, looking around.

"Hai. And Sci Lab. I hear Dr. Hikari's son is entering."

"Dr. Hikari…" Rukku mused. "His first name is Netto, right?"

"I believe so." She mumbled, looking around the lobby and not really paying attention to his questions.

"Lets go say hi." Rukku said with a smug grin as he grabbed her hand and pulled her along, obviously waking her out of her trance.

"Who is your partner?" the two heard Netto ask a certain Electopian.

"A great electopian fellow. He's using the boys room right now, so I'll introduce you when he returns."

"Excuse me." Rukku interrupted, lightly tapping Netto on the shoulder, "Are you Hikari Netto-san?"

"H-hai…" He looked at the young man as his nerves ran on fire. Enzan gulped and Sarena built a stiff and rather unfriendly look, which she had learned during her days in the military.

Rukku stuck out his hand, "Pleased to meet you, my name is Ijuuin Rukku, president of IPC. I have heard many great things about you."

"Oh, haha," Netto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well, thank you. Pleasure to meet you as well."

"Too bad Enzan-san had to miss this, ne?" Tora spoke up.

"Yes….it is truly too bad." Rukku mused, and Enzan felt like punching the little runt.

"I'm sure he's here, watching over. He wouldn't want to miss something like this." Netto smiled, then looked behind Rukku to see a dazing brunette.

Rukku followed his glance, "Oh pardon me, I forgot to introduce you to my partner, Tsumejima Kana-san, vice president of Yellow Tech Labratories."

Kana outstretched her hand, "Pleased to meet you, Netto-san. I've met with your father on a number of occasions. He may be a scientist, but he seems to be Sci Lab's best," she shook her head to the side, "I'm surprised he's not the president of the labs."

Netto shook his head, "I don't think I could stand that; we don't get to see him much as it is." He smiled, "Though I'm sure he will appreciate the praise."

"Of course." She smiled politely.

"Oh! And excuse me, I forgot to introduce my friends," he held out his hand toward Enzan, "This is my partner and boyfriend, Sokatishe Ryuke-kun."

Rukku forced a smile, and outstretched his hand, "Good to meet you." They pulled away, eyes meeting, eyes greeting, a devilish smile of mal intent and hatred seeming to cross the airway between their exchange of hands. Enzan shook the hand so fake, and shook it so plainly fake as well. He wasn't sure if Rukku knew who he was, or if he just was like that.

Kana shook his hand as well, and the older Ijuuin felt as if he had been relieved of the poison that seemed to fill him with malicious thoughts and hate. She smiled sweetly and politely, replacing the darkness with light.

"And this is his sister, Sokatishe Tamika, and her fiancé Hugostav Laika-san, both in the Sharro military. Next to them is Torakachi-san, and his partner…"

"Aye, I better go make sure he didn't die!" Tora took off, ignoring the greeting as Netto sweatdropped.

History repeated itself as Sarena shook their hands, while Laika seemed to be immune to the feelings emitted through the simple greeting.

"Congratulations, have you two set a date yet?" Kana asked Sarena.

"Hai, May of next year." She smiled politely, subconsciously looking at her ring.

"May I see?" The brunette asked curiously.

"Huh? Oh!" Sarena held up her hand, and Kana looked at it awed.

"It's so beautiful!"

The black haired girl smiled warmly, "Thank you." She looked over at Enzan, and seemed to be thinking the same thing _Why is someone so sweet as her working with __**him?**_

_Ding Dong Ding _

"Will all participants please report to the Backstage where we'll begin the introductions!" The P.A. announced, causing a scurry to the opening doors.

"Well, good luck!" Kana waved as she began to walk.

"You too!" Sarena waved back.

Rukku turned his back and looked over his shoulder, "Yes…good luck."

**0000000**

Well the long awaited update is finally here! Sorry it took me so long again. Ugh…inspiration running dry. I'm collecting ideas here and there, and it's always rough starting out. But it'll get good, trust me! 8 reviews for 2 chapters; Thank you! I'd like to thank **Random Irony, MarshmellowDragon, Atreyu the Slayer, Rika Hikari 15, **and many others for your wonderful reviews! You guys are the best! And I have no idea what Torakachi's Japanese name is ; I'm too lazy to look it up XD Hopefully I'll be updating chapter four on Wednesday, but don't count on it XD.


	4. Challenge of the NAL

**Chapter 4: challenge of the NAL  
**

**0000000**

_Laika…he was a net savior as well…both were close partners with Enzan. _ Rukku looked straight ahead, hands folded in front of him as the participants stood lined up side by side, next to their navi's, who were all plugged into copy bots. His stiff face challenged that of the Shaaroian duo, but Kana smiled just as blissfully ignorant as every other participant (and perhaps a little more.)

"Next up we have President of IPC, Ijuuin Rukku and Irae!" The voice announced as Rukku and Irae stepped forward and the circular shining spotlight fell upon them. "and vice-president of Yellow Tech Labs, Tsumejima Kana and Raiden!"

She stepped up along side him and they bowed in synch, as they had agreed to do so. But one thing they hadn't planned was Kana taking his hand as they bowed. As they stepped back, she let go, smiling at him. Rukku smiled slightly then looked back out into the crowd, seeming to purposely glue his emerald eyes into the cheers of the people.

Sarena watched him out of her peripheral vision, as she stood right next to them. _Coward…_Once a girl of forgiveness and love, now a hardened military commander. What was it about the military that was so different from vengeance? –_Both meant to serve the people- _She risked her life many times in each world, and the stakes were even higher with Vengeance.

"Next, the duo from Shaaro, both military commanders, Gustonav Laika, commander of the 7th division and Searchman!" Laika stepped forward as the last team had, "and commander of the 6th division, Sokatishe Tamika and Ares!" The two saluted the crowd in a synchronized manner, followed by the coordinating salutes of their navis. The crowd hooted and hollered for the team; perhaps it was their calm and suave demeanor that awarded them such praise, or simply because of the fact that they looked _strong._

"Last, but certainly not least, Net battle champion Hikari Netto and Rockman!" The brunette stepped forward alongside his blue companion, "with Sokatishe Ryuke and Stone!" Enzan stepped alongside Netto with Blues on his right side as he held Netto's right hand and bowed. Netto pumped his fist into the air with a wild grin as the sound of screaming girls inflated his over-sized ego. Enzan simply stepped back with his hands in his pocket, but of course, Netto couldn't have _all _the glory; He smirked, flicking his hair out of his face and receiving just as many shrills of infatuation as Netto had.

Netto snorted and smiled, "attention whore."

"Look who's talking." Enzan grinned. In fact, he had all he could do to keep from smiling. It has been so long –_how many years? 6 years? Far too long- _ since he had stood on the stage of an upcoming battle. When he realized the purpose of the battle, however, his smile soon faded. _The world is in danger, this is no laughing matter. The only other one I would trust to hold the earth in their hands is either Netto or Laika. If we don't win, it could mean serious trouble._

The crowd cheered wildly for all the participants, "Now it is time to begin the preliminaries! Who will move on?" Names, shouts –_Voices that boiled the blood of each and every contestant to self assurance- _ filled the air as each placed their faith in a team.

But it was up to the battle to determine who would win this fight.

**0000000**

"We have to collect ten of these?!" Netto exclaimed, thoroughly annoyed.

"Well at least you have 1. That puts us ahead of Kana and Rukku."

"Not quite. I hear Kana has one as well, besides the sample one they gave us." Netto whined. "I over heard them talking in the back hall after the prelims were announced; she has one on a necklace."

"Argh." Enzan rested his head in his palm, "Well we better start looking then. They could be anywhere."

Suddenly Netto smirked a devious smile that made Enzan raise an eyebrow, "what are you thinking?"

"Maybe my dad could sneak us a few?"

"Are you kidding? He could lose his job!"

The brunette sighed, "yeah, yeah, I know."

"So it seems that there really is a purpose to this battle. They're trying to collect as many of these as possible so they can investigate. What better way than to make us fetch them." Enzan mused as they walked along the sidewalk of Densan's busy streets.

"Look!" Netto bent over and picked up a shining piece of metal. "now we have 2!"

Enzan looked around, "How many of these are there, and how did they get here?"

"You think they wouldn't want us looking for them. What if someone conducts their own experiments on them and finds out the very secret they're trying to hide?" Netto stood up, observing the metallic piece.

"I hate to say it, but you've got a point." Enzan dug his hand in his pockets and pulled out the sample piece the battle authorities gave them, "There's a network in this…just how do we jack in? and if it's growing, what if it grows while someone holds it?"

"It seems risky that Yellow Tech and especially Sci Lab would allow something like this, but I guess they trust that we'll report it to them." Netto began walking along with Enzan once again. "I wonder how Sarena and Laika are fairing."

"Hm." The two of them walked into a park, holding hands and enjoying the weather, the scenery, and most of all, they enjoyed each other's presence. -_So far from where we've been, so far from who we were, but some changes are for the better-  
_

"I used to play here all the time. Meiru-chan and I would practically fall asleep here from wearing ourselves out playing." Netto chuckled. "Let's sit."

Enzan nodded and they walked over to a tree to rest in it's shade. The February afternoon was cool and the breeze was soft. The sun shone high overhead marking it's territory and the weather forecast as "the perfect day to be outside". As the older, black-haired male fiddled around with a few blades of grass, he noticed a shine hiding in the green slips. "Got another one."

He turned to see Netto holding up one as well. "I just found one as well."

Enzan stood up and walked around the other side of the massive tree; His jaw dropped; Was such an action of complete disbelief one of his previous emotions? _-certainly the muscles in his face required to do so would not have been put to use if Netto had not entered his life-_, "Guess someone else found them first. Look at this."

Netto crawled over to the other side to see little round spheres decorating the ground like ornaments in a Christmas tree. He quickly picked up ten of them total then smiled, "should we help out Laika and Sarena?"

Enzan nodded, "Go ahead." He looked up to see a small knot had been carved out the tree's sturdy frame, which upon further inspection, proved to be a nest of some sort. "Look at this."

Netto peered inside to see the whole hole full of the tiny spheres. "Wow, squirrels must love shiny objects."

"Squirrel? It was probably just some kids that have been collecting them." Enzan shrugged.

"They wouldn't be strewn about on the ground if it had been. Squirrels are lazy." Netto pointed out

"Since when did you become on squirrel habitual life?"

"Doesn't take a genius to figure this one out." Netto replied wittily and Enzan rolled his eyes, "Anyways, we should bring these to sci-lab."

"Hai."

**0000000**

Enzan and Netto walked into the Hikari office casually, receiving smiles and certain looks from various scientists.

"Papa!" Netto called, introducing their presence.

"Oh hello!" The scientist looked up from the computer screen, observing the additional guests, "Hello, Ryuke." The doctor addressed, noting that the door was still open.

"We brought you something." Netto grinned widely, holding out a plastic bag full of the silver spheres.

The doctor's eyes widened, "Wh-where did you find all these?!"

"Did you know that squirrels love silvery shiny objects?" Netto asked calmly.

"A _squirrel _ collected all these?"

"Well," Enzan paused, looking over at Netto, "That's what he thinks. I think someone has been collecting them and putting them there.

"Whatever. Anyways, You told us that if we find anymore, we should bring them here. We already got our ten for the tourney and gave one to Laika and Mika-chan since they only needed one more. We're officially in the tourney now." Netto announced happily.

"That means only six more teams can get in now." The older Hikari mused.

"I wonder if Rukku and Kana have found theirs yet. Mika-chan and Laika-kun seemed to find theirs quite quickly." Rockman pondered aloud.

"I'm not surprised. You have to be observant in the military. Laika-kun is especially skilled at that." The doctor nodded, "Well I thank you for these!"

Netto lowered his voice and leaned forward. "Have they found any more information on these things?"

"Nothing. The growth development seems to have ceased as well."

"Calm before the storm." Enzan spoke up.

"My thought's exactly. And my intuition tells me that it's going to be bad."

"When has it ever been good?" Blues spoke up at this point.

"Don't worry! We'll take care of it, right Rockman?" Netto said cheerully –_ignorantly, as always.-_

"Hai. Leave it to us!" Rockman echoed his partner –_As they say, like net op, like net navi.-_

Enzan merely rolled his eyes, "You don't even know what you're facing."

"As long as the soul prevails, obstacles shall be diminished and a path shall open up for those who believe." Netto said proudly

"Who said that?"

"Me!"

Enzan nearly fell over while the doctor sighed. "You know, I'm almost hoping that you don't win so that you won't be put in danger _again._"

"Aww, but dad! I live for this kind of stuff! I'm happiest when I'm fighting the bad guys!"

"Well there's no guarantee that we'll be needed if we win, correct? They have yet to find a way to jack into these...things, right?" Enzan asked.

"We're just calling them networked alternate lifeforms, NAL for short. And no, we haven't. There's no port, but it won't accept infrared either."

"So these…NALs are basically dormant? I don't see how they could pose a threat." Netto furrowed his brows.

"When you have an intuition, you've just got to go with it. The other scientists say the same thing as you, but based on it's recent activity, I don't trust them one bit."

Enzan listened then perked up as if a thought hit him in the head, "Wait a minute…Netto…do you remember the meteor shower we had a few nights ago?"

The brunette smiled, "Of course."

_The two stood on the roof-top of Enzan's 10 story apartment. The sky was crystal clear and the city lights could be seen glimmering in their splendor off in the distance. Enzan stood there behind Netto with his arms wrapped around the shorter one, watching as vibrant streams of silver flew across the sky as if there was nothing to hold them back.._

_"Did you make a wish?" Netto asked._

_"Isn't that a bit childish?" Enzan asked, raising a playful eyebrow as he rested his head on Netto's shoulder._

_"Of course not. It's okay to wish for things. The more you wish, the more faith you put into your dreams. If you don't put faith into your dreams…if you don't believe in them, they will never become anything but mere dreams.. That's why I wish that you'll be with me always."_

_Enzan kissed the brunette on the cheek then looked up at the sky as a shooting star flew across his vision,_ I wish Netto and I will be together forever_. He sighed as his wish flew into the heavens "As dense as you are sometimes, I always seem to fall more and more in love with you."_

_Netto placed his hands over Enzan's "Well I love you more than there are stars in the sky."_

"The meteor shower! Of course!" The doctor exclaimed, bringing the two out of their reminiscent trance. He ran over to the computer and began typing, "That meteor shower was completely unpredicted and out of the normal schedule. Those weren't stars, they were the NALs!"

"Aw man, now that means my wish for an infinite supply of curry won't come true." The brunette pouted. _-He knew as well as Enzan that it wasn't the only wish cast that night.-_

"This is big news. I'll have to inform the other scientists right away."

"Alright, well we'll get out of your way then. We just wanted to drop those off." Netto waved and the two began to walk out of his office.

"Oh wait! I have something for you! Don't leave just yet!" Yuuchiro scrambled to his desk and pulled out two long strips of paper. "These are tickets to an upcoming concert. One of my coworkers won these, but he and his wife got sick so he gave them to me. Your mother and I, being oldies fans, have never heard of the bands, so I was wondering if you two would like them instead?"

Netto looked at the tickets and jaw-dropped, "Are you kidding me? These guys are awesome, and I heard their concerts rock! Thanks!"

"Arigatou Hikase." Enzan bowed as Netto took the tickets.

"Yes, thank you very much!" Netto bowed as well. "Alright, well tell mom I say hi. Good luck!"

"Alright, you too!"

**0000000**

"Can you believe it?" Kana asked happily as she fell back on her bed, "I'm working with Rukku-kun as my partner!"

"You guys looked so cute on stage today!" a blonde haired female replied as her happy face shone on the screen.

Kana giggled happily, "Arisa-chan…I'm so excited! I feel so stupid though. I started to open up to him in the car today and began rambling."

"Oh geeze." Arisa rolled her blue eyes, "how long did you ramble?"

"I have no clue. But he seemed to be interested in what I had to say; now, whether or not he understood what I had to say, I don't know, but he said I made sense."

"Well that's good. He seems understanding, which gives him points, and he's hot, so that doubles them right there." The girls laughed, then Arisa's face turned serious as she remembered something, "Oh…I forgot."

"What?" Kana asked, alerted.

"I got scheduled to go on a business trip tomorrow. I was their back-up person, and apparently one of the employee's called in sick, so now I have to go."

"You're kidding!" Kana gasped. She knew as well as anyone that The Nine Thousand was Arisa's favorite band, "You should have told your boss that your father was in the hospital and on his death bed."

"I should have, but I didn't have the guts to lie. What if they found out?"

"Yeah, you're right. That REALLY sucks that you can't go though." Kana pouted, "Maybe you should come down with a mysterious cold!"

"Yeah, but you know I can't lie very well. Besides, the place I'm going isn't so bad; I'm headed of to Jawaii."

"Hey, well, at least it has some perks. Maybe you could hook up with some tan hottie while you're there."

Arisa laughed, "Yeah, I wish." Suddenly she grinned, "I have an idea…"

"What?"

"You should take my ticket and invite Rukku to go along."

Kana laughed –and she laughed loud. "RIGHT. Like he's a punk rock fan? I highly doubt it. He seems too mellow and dignified for that."

"Everyone knows you don't have to like the concert to have a good time. I mean, it'll be like a 'bonding' time for you and him."

"But Arisa-chan…these are mosh pit tickets!" Kana laughed more, "What if they decide to send him crowd surfing?"

"Then get it on video and e-mail it to me!" Arisa grinned. "C'mon, nothing ventured nothing gained!"

Kana took a deep breath then exhaled, "Alright, fine. I'll see if he wants to go. If he doesn't, you're coming down with a cold and going with me. I don't care if I have to smuggle you back here."

The blonde flashed her pearly whites as she smiled, "Sounds fair enough. Well, I've got to go, I'll talk to you later. Love ya!" Arisa blew a kiss.

"Later, love." Kana caught the kiss and sent one back before ending the conversation. She picked up her PET and manually dialed Rukku, as Raiden was on the net at this time. _Please pick up..._

**0000000**

"Master, a phone call from Tsumejima-san."

"Go ahead and answer." Rukku commanded as he took off his tie and undid the first button on his oxford shirt.

"Rukku-san, I hope I'm not bothering you at this hour. I figured you'd still be up seeing as you work like me."

Rukku nodded, "I just got out of another meeting a while ago. So what did you need?"

"Oh right! Well…I have an extra ticket to go see The Nine Hundred, and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me? It's tomorrow, and I apologize that it's such short notice. My friend was going to go, and it's her favorite band, but she got assigned to a business trip and they're mosh tickets so if you don't want to go that's fine! I mean, I want you to go, but if you don't want to go or you can't that's completely cool, but don't think I don't want you to go, because I do, but I-"

"Kana?"

The brunette felt like smacking her head against something HARD, "…hai?"

"Would you like to get something to eat before the concert?"

Kana blushed brightly as she smiled wider than the universe could stretch, "HAI! I mean…" she calmed herself down to a more professional tone, "I'd love to. What time?"

"Well what time does the concert start?"

"8:00…So, we should probably get dinner around 5:30?"

"That sounds like a good time."

"Where should I meet you?"

"I'll pick you up at 5:00. The location is a surprise."

Kana crossed her arms and pouted playfully, "Well how will I know how to dress if I don't know where I'm going?"

"Dress the way you would if you were going on a date." He grinned and Kana blushed deep tomato red, "Now I must head off to bed or I might collapse from exhaustion. Goodnight Miss Kana."

"Goodnight, Ryuke-san." She hung up then _–1…2…3…-_ "OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOD!"

**0000000**

"Tickets to The Nine Hundred, hm?" Enzan mused as they hung out at Netto's place later that evening. "Aren't they a punk rock band?"

"Yeah, but have you heard them? They're amazing." Netto eyed the tickets happily, "Today has just been so awesome. I mean, the introduction ceremony was awesome; I haven't felt so pumped in years! Did you see that crowd?" The brunette looked up at the ceiling as he sat with Enzan's arm around his shoulder. "Then we find those NAL's and then we get the tickets. I mean, we're officially in the competition now! And so are Sarena and Laika! Things couldn't be going better!"

Enzan placed his finger over Netto's lips, "Careful what you say. You might have just jinxed it."

"Please, don't tell me you believe in superstition now?"

"Let's just call it murphy's law." Enzan turned and knocked on the wooden end table. "You can never be too safe."

Netto rolled his eyes, "I guess."

**0000000**

"The four kingdoms that rule over this earth…Tetsukya-san, do you know what they are?"

"They are the four elements, master. Earth Fire Water and Air."

"Do you know what would happen if any one of these elements was to be…taken away?"

"It would cause an unbalance and human life would suffer greatly."

"Exactly. But do you know what kind of power you could wield, being in possession of one of the elements?"

"Immense power, master."

The man asking the questions, the master, walked to a large screen. "They won't hold them for long. They do not realize that they're harboring such power that their cages and plastic walls cannot hold back the force of the saplings." The man looked up at the stars, "Soon the kingdoms will rise up again, and I will take hold of the elements, just you see, humans."

**0000000**

Naaah, Sorry T-T I meant to update yesterday! I really did! I even stayed up till midnight Tuesday night to finish the chapter, got the file over to my computer, was in the process of final-editing it here on when my sister comes over and drags me off to go shopping for her birthday party (later in the evening). I was so clooose! I couldn't get online last night 'cause it was like, 12 am when we got back and my parents have this weird rule about not getting on the computer that late. o.O Anyways, Thank you all for your reviews! Hopefully I'll get the next one uploaded soon too! -still yet to write it- . Muuu...I feel like I'm trying to wring inspiration out of a dry cloth. Brain...twisting -falls over-  



	5. The Battle Begins!

**Chapter 5: The Battle Begins!**

**0000000**

Inside the back room, the pairings were listed on a board, as well as on a large holographic display in the center arena.

"Looks like you guys are going first." Netto turned toward Sarena and Laika, who simply shrugged.

"First or last. Doesn't matter, as long we move on to the next round." Laika responded.

"At least we don't have to fight you guys." Netto grinned.

"Why? Afraid you'd lose?" Sarena smirked.

"Hah, you're funny." The brunette retorted sarcastically, "As if. You guys wouldn't stand a chance against us."

"Don't speak so quickly, Hikari. You'll face us sooner or later, that is, _if you move on_.." Laika added.

"Hmph. Those navi's are going to be a piece of cake. Just like you two." Enzan smirked.

"Did you hear that Laika-kun? He thinks he's better than us!" Sarena turned toward the blue-haired native Shaaroian.

"Whatever. Let him believe what he wants. There's a fine line between thinking you're strong and actually _being _strong."

The PA called for the first two teams to proceed to the arena, and so their conversation was forced to end.

"Be careful what you say. It'd be a shame to see you eat your bitter words." Sarena smiled smugly as she walked toward the arena. She then paused, looked over her shoulder, and retorted before continuing to walk away, "Actually, it'd be pretty funny."

"Whatever, just don't disappoint me out there!" Netto called back and chuckled as he and Enzan made their way toward the spectator seats. "I've never seen her like this before; she's just like you."

"I don't recall ever being so sarcastic." Enzan replied, sitting down.

"You had your moments." Netto relaxed in his seat.

The lights in the stadium dimmed, focusing on the center arena, which quickly became encased in a dimensional area. It became hard to see anything with the area covered in the white light of the two teams crossfusing. A display hung from the ceiling with the opponents' health meters. Once both teammates health bars had emptied, their crossfusion would break, the battle would be over, and the winning team would move on.

Sarena combined Ares' speed to initiate the first attack, but she wasn't the only fast one. A red navi, resembling something like that of the Falzar bird charged after Laika. However, the navi's attempt was in vain; the camouflage navi had already locked onto his opponent, sending the approaching navi reeling just as it was about to attack with extended claws.

Rocks began to fall from the sky over Sarena, attempting to crush her in their shadows. Smirking, she hopped from one rock to another as they began to fall to the ground. Laika continued attacking the red one, confident that his partner and fiancé was fine; The smoke and debris the rocks caused made it nearly impossible to see what was going on inside of the attack. Needless to say that when a thin katana sliced through the middle of Sarena's attacker, the said navi nearly had a heart attack from shock and pain. Sarena hopped back across the field away from the stone navi, who now stood with determination and anger in his eyes. Rock hands began to come at her from left and right, attempting to squish her in their attack. She barely had time to move out of the way before they clapped together with tremendous force, but she managed to escape unscathed.

"Twin sword!" Sarena called out, allowing two katana's to form on either arm. She rushed at her opponent with full speed, making two crossing slices through the stone navi. The crossfusion was broken, and the first opponent had been taken down. _These guys are weak!_

Laika also faced his enemy with ease, blending into scenery, sending smoke bombs and satellite attacks at the flying freak, who had a tendency to take the brunt of the attack every time. Not much longer after the first opponent had gone down did the second one fall as well, leaving the Shaaroian duo as the victors of this match.

"Wow! What a battle! It seems that these two were no match for the military trained professionals. Gustonav Laika and Sokatishe Tamika are moving on to the second round!" The crowd stood up, clapping and cheering

"They're good…I'm anxious to see how far they get." Netto overheard Kana mutter, as she stood next to Rukku in the row above the shounen-ai couple.

"They won't get past us, that's for sure. Ares' attacks are too easy to parry." Rukku mused.

"Yeah, her speed will be nothing for Irae's time-stopping ability." Kana thought aloud.

Netto nudged Enzan's hand, giving the other the look of 'do you hear what they're saying?'. Enzan replied with an inconspicuous cough as he looked at Netto out of the corner of his eyes. She hadn't said it so loud that everyone around could hear, but the way her voice projected downward made it so a certain couple could make out every word she said.

"Alright, alright!" The announcer came over clear on the intercom, causing people to calm down a bit as to hear what she had to say, "The next battle will begin in 15 minutes. There are refreshments for sale just up on the upper level and bathrooms located outside of every exit. Please relax as we wait for our next participants to take the stage! Thank you."

When the speaker had gotten done talking, people began to move from their seats, including the tourney participants. Netto and Enzan made their way to the back room to prepare for their upcoming battle. Their opponents?

"Hey, you guys a'better not go whimpy on us!" Tora greeted the two net-saviors with a little determination and a lot of self-confidence.

"Of course. Why would we give the likes of you an advantage?" Enzan asked haughtily.

"Geeze Netto-san, you really know how to pick your partners." Tora snorted sarcastically, "If I didn't know any better, I would think he's Enzan himself! A little bit too big for our britches, are we?" The Electopian guffawed loudly, allowing anyone who passed within a 50 foot radius to hear his words loud and clear.

Unfortunately, anyone included Rukku, who had been within that radius at the time of Tora's ignorant comment. He slowed his gate and eyed the black-haired fellow who remained unaware that his identity was being questioned at this time.

_Of course! It all makes sense! Netto and Enzan were close partners, and he and Sarena would be the same age as Tamika and Ryuke! _ Rukku thought as his pace quickened, his heart raced, stomach lurched, and fire filled his eyes. _I could sense it when I shook his hand. _ As he washed his hands in the bathroom, he looked into the mirror with confusion. _But what if it's not him…I don't want to hurt an innocent, _ He chuckled to himself, _gay or not._

As he returned to the seats, he noticed Kana sitting with a large soda and a large popcorn. "I got an extra straw in case you got thirsty."

"I was wondering if you were going to eat and drink that all." He said with a chuckle.

"Heck no. I'd be 400 kilo's heavier if I ate like this every day. Besides, even if I did drink all that, I may have to go to the bathroom during our battle. Wouldn't that be fun?" She laughed, placing the cup in the holder between them. "Help yourself to some popcorn."

Rukku eyed the greasy bucket of popcorn and held up his hand "I'll pass."

"Well then I guess I'll just have to throw it away, what a shame." She held it toward him again, "are you sure."

"I'm…sure." He said, hesitantly.

A thought then ran through her head as she watched his expression, "You _have _had popcorn before, _right?"_

Rukku bit his lip and made a grimacing face, "not…exactly. Not my kind of dine."

"You're kidding!" Her eyes widened, "My god, you're deprived! Here!" she set the bucket in his lap. He simply let it sit there as he stared at it, "eat it!" she demanded.

"…"

"Please? For me?" Kana asked with big, brown puppy dog eyes.

The said Ijuuin let out a sigh, picking up a single piece of popcorn and eyeing it before popping it into his mouth. He crunched on the piece, acknowledged the flavor, then nodded. "It's…different. Salty…but kind of good, actually."

"Have you had potato chips?"

"I try to eat healthy, Miss Kana. I avoid foods with a lot of salt and grease, but yes, I have had _a _ potato chip before."

"You can't just have one…" she mumbled _Unless you're him.. That kid is a strange case. I'm so going to make him an un-healthy lunch and he will eat it, even if I have to force it into his mouth!_

"Alright folks! Let's get this show started!" The girl announced as both teams walked through two different doors. "On the left side, we have Hikari Netto and Rockman with Sokatishe Ryuke and Stone!" The crowd cheered as the first set walked into the arena. "And on the right we have Garanatsu Torakachi and his navi Kingman with Hitsukai Takatsu and Omega!"

The dimensional area formed, and once again the people who once stood so clearly visible, were now smoked in blinding light as they crossfused. The light disappeared, crossfused participants emerged, and the battle had begun!

Chess pieces were set up on the stage around Netto as Enzan focused on Omega, a greek bowman-like navi with a precise aim. As the blue navi/net-op cross worked their way around the chess pieces, dodging fierce sword-armed pawns, they were taken surprise from the side by an explosive knight.

Netto got on his feet quickly though, and smirked, "In chess you can take many hits, yet still pull a checkmate!" He leapt into the air, sending out a rotating flying object toward Kingman's row of defense, "Boomerang!"

The life-sized chess piece had little time to regenerate defense, leaving him open for an attack. As the knights were being destroyed, Netto took the time to load a program advance, "Sword, Long Sword, Wide Sword!" –_the echoes of resonance in mind, body, and soul could surely be heard from the stadium to the heavens- _ "Program advance, Dream Sword!" Netto came down, determined to slice his opponent with the powerful weapon; after all, everyone knew that mixing a determined Netto and determined Rockman creates a powerful weapon in itself. Couple that with the DreamSword, and you've got one heck of an attack. Woe is he who took hath been destined as victim of this devastating attack.

As the Blue bombing duo handled Tora and Knightman, Enzan focused on dodging the numerous arrows sent careening his way. As he came toward the greek navi with full speed, Omega's green eyes grew wide _But how?! My aiming is flawless! He's too fast! _ The navi flew back against a pillar after taking the heat of Enzan's Bamboo sword _Maybe I shouldn't aim for _ him_ but _where he willbe.

Omega stood up, aimed his bow toward Enzan, who immediately dodged upwards out of the way. The bowman let a round of arrows fly in the general direction, but much to his dismay, the sword-fighting duo still managed to evade the attack. Just as Netto had, Enzan set a three similar chips in place, summoning a program advance. "Dream Sword!"

Omega's crossfusion was broken as he felt the full on force of the P.A. Enzan hopped over toward Netto, who was about to fall into a knights attack. The newly black and white navi ran a wide sword through the three chess pieces, allowing the blue navi to land safely on his feet; of course, Netto leapt right back into battle, finishing off the over-sized chess piece with an equally grand Vulcan. As Tora's Crossfusion broke, the Dimensional area began to fade, and the Net Saviors were named the victors.

_I've only known one navi who battled so flawlessly with such speed. _ Rukku narrowed his eyes. _It's him. It has to be him. _

"Incredible!" Kana laughed as she stood up, clapping with the rest of the crowd, "Those guys are just as good as I've heard!"

Rukku responded with a stiff, "hmph". He clapped as if he was applauding for someone else's kid who had just won a spelling bee; in essence, it was the same situation, with a little more resentment involved.

"Aw, you're not jealous 'cause they're competition, are you?" Kana teased.

He looked over with the grimace of his brother's memory still fresh his mind. Kana took the annoyed expression as directed at her, and apologized immediately, "Gomen nasai! I didn't know! I was only joking, it was out of line, Gomen nasai!" she bowed so quickly, her PET fell out of it's holster, as it had already been shaken loose. The brunette bent over to retrieved the hand-held, and on her way up, her head suffered a hard hit against the seat in front of her.

Rukku snapped out of it long worry about his partner's well-being, "Miss Kana, it's fine! I was deep in thought, is all. Are you alright?"

Kana stood up, rubbing her head. "Yeah," she winced in pain as she snapped her PET back in it's holder, "I fear my clumsiness will someday get the best of me."

"You shouldn't say such things." He smiled empathetically, melting her sweet little heart, "we should be heading back stage now, we're up next."

"Ah, right!" Kana twirled around and began walking, only to trip over her own two feet and fall to the ground

Rukku let out a little sigh as he helped the brunette up, who's face now was redder than a lit Christmas tree light. They strode backstage, passing the previous battle's victors. The younger Ijuuin passed by the older, _-The moment freezing in still time, outlined in black and white, a conceptual photograph demonstrating the many forms of civil hate- _ Knowing without a doubt in his mind that it was his other half. –_The other half he despised, loathed, and wanted nothing more than for this half, which leeched like a parasite, to be annihilated in the most brutal way possible- _

Enzan felt the heavy passing, narrowing his eyes and stiffening every muscle in his body like a frightened cat.

"So!" a hand wrapped around his shoulder, breaking Enzan out of his trance, "How did you feel about this last match?" A microphone was forced in front of him as Enzan gaped for words.

"Uh…great…" he put on a fake smile, "It was great."

The reporter pushed the microphone over to Netto, "You're famous for all your numerous Netbattles, do you expect to win this one?"

"Of course!"

"But you will have to fight Ryuke-san if you guys make it to the end…"the reporter said with drama, "Do you think you can?"

Netto smirked, "Of course. He's in debt of payback. We're awesome as a team, but can put on the most spectacular battle when we fight."

"Ryuke-san, do you agree?"

"Hm, mostly. But I don't think he'll be able to deliver this 'payback' he speaks of. I think it'll just end in another sorry defeat." Enzan smirked.

"Well there you have it, folks. I'm Karujin Matsu of Net Battle News Weekly!" The reporter walked away with the camera men, and Netto and Enzan were left to talk.

"Suppose we should go join Laika." Netto mused aloud.

"Yeah…Rukku and Kana are up next."

"I'm anxious to see their style, especially what Irae can do." The brunette said as they walked toward the other side of the arena, directly across from where they had been sitting.

"I don't mind Kana, but I really hope they don't make it."

"Afraid they'll beat us?"

"Afraid he'll find out. I don't even like to be near him." Enzan pocketed his hands, looking straight ahead.

As they got to the assigned seats, they saw Sarena relaxed with her feet rested on the top of a vacant seat in front of her, and Laika next to her with his hand on top of hers. "Ah, so you made it through. Had a little bit of trouble with that chess master, eh Netto?"

"Can it." Netto snapped jokingly, " Besides, Tora-san's a good net battler. I've known him for a while now. You guys just happened to luck out anyways."

"Perhaps it's because we use our brains, Netto-kun?" Laika teased as well.

"or perhaps it's because your opponents were complete rookies." Netto teased back, "Jumping around the battle field doesn't take much brain."

"What-!" Laika started, only to have Enzan interrupt him

"Calm down guys. The battle's starting."

The arena lights faded when the two teams walked onto the battle field. The names were announced, and the battle begun; the same light of crossfusion enveloped the teams as they prepared for battle.

Kana and Rukku emerged as a yellow lightning-type navi and a white knight-like navi. Rukku's hair turned very pale blonde, but stayed the same length while his suit was changed to look like Irae's.

A purple navi raised his arms, creating black vortexes around Kana. Daggers came flying at her every which way, seeming to trap her in their surround attack. Rukku could only watch helplessly as he dealt with fending off his own attacker. _She'll never survive…_

Within several split seconds, Kana took a loaded thunder chip and combined Raiden's special ability to create a lightning attack. It not only froze the oncoming attack and let her jump out of the way, but paralyzed the attacker, allowing her to send another attack his way. "Sparkling Arrow!" The electrified arrows pierced the magician type navi, lowering his health bar immensely.

Rukku fought his opponent, a female water-type navi. "You'll never win with such evil in your heart." She told him as her aqua-sword clashed with his standard cyber-sword.

"What?" the younger Ijuuin asked, catching him off-guard. She took her chance, sending water streaming around his body in a snake coiling fashion. As it curled around him, it constricted tighter and tighter.

Kana looked over and ignored her opponent as she now focused her attack on the water navi. "Silver Lightning!" she ran forward and leapt over the other female, sending out rods of electricity toward her. The brunette was able to weaken her grip on Ruku enough so the white knight could break free, but when kana landed, she found herself encircled in fire. Fireballs began to rain down on her, making it nearly impossible to dodge them with such little space to move around in, but she managed to dodge a few with the unfortunate circumstance of taking a few hits.

Rukku looked over at his partner and clapped his hands, the signal to switch opponents. Kana nodded, and began focusing on the aqua navi, as Rukku took on the magician. It wasn't long after the brunette took on the water navi that it fell to it's elemental weakness: electricity.

The Magician pulled the same trick, sending fireballs raining down on Rukku, who was trapped in a ring of fire. "Time stop!" the white navi called, freezing not only the oncoming attack in mid air, but the fire around. Rukku raised his hand, opening a devastating black hole that frightened even hell itself, and pulling the fire and the meteors into it. Kana intervened, using a paralyzing electric attack to freeze the magician and allow Rukku to finish his potent attack. The black hole closed, then opened up behind the magician, bestowing many different fire attacks onto the unsuspecting victim. The magician fell as well, non-verbally declaring Rukku and Kana as the victors,

_much to Enzan's dismay._

"They're good." Sarena mused.

"Too good." Enzan added.

"I just don't understand it. Kana is so sweet and lively, while Rukku is as stiff as a rock, yet the two make an awesome team."

"It's like you and Enzan, really." Laika spoke at.

"I'm not that stiff." Enzan replied indignatly.

"Tch, yeah. But you were." Netto nodded, then looked out at the arena to see Kana and Rukku being named victors. For a split second, he could see a younger version of himself and Enzan. "My god…he's right."

"You say that if you're surprised. Of course I'm right." Laika raised a slender aqua eyebrow.

Netto simply rolled his eyes at Laika's comment while Sarena added her two-cents, "Perhaps there's hope for him yet."

"Do you think Kana can really change him?" Enzan questioned.

"Anyone can be changed. It's just a matter if their hearts are completely hardened or not; depending on that, it can be difficult to open up a person to the point where they _want _ to change." She said, "My guess, he'll be a real project for Kana, but judging by the way he acts around her, it seems as if she's the one person he really cares for."

"The one person who gets under his skin…" Enzan mused aloud. Netto looked over at the Black haired fellow, who stared off into space, "She sees him for more than just the president of IPC…" _Just like Netto saw me as more than a rival or a snobby, rich vice-president._

The brunette placed his hand over Enzan's and smiled, "Just because he's your father's son, doesn't mean he's completely corrupted. Look how you turned out. He may end up just like you."

"I hope…I really do."

**0000000**

Sorry this took so long to update! . This originally wasn't going to be the 4th chapter, but some requested that I get the battling started, so I stopped what I had been working on to write this. The good news? Chapter 6 is almost done! That can only mean one thing: concert time! Thank you for **all** of your reviews! You guys rock!

An edit for last chapter: I accidentally "Ryuke-san" instead of "Rukku-san" at the end of Kana's conversation with Rukku.

Also an interesting note: The name "Raiden" means "Thunder" in Japanese. Hence why his attacks are electric based.


	6. The Concert

**Chapter 6: The Concert  
0000000  
**

The door swung open with passion as an out-of-breath assistant stumbled into the Hikari office.

"Doctor!" He wheezed. "The NAL's!"

"Irukio, what is it?"

"They're missing!"

"Missing?! What do you mean, missing?"

"Gone, all of them! It's as if they forced their way out of the cages!"

"That's impossible! They have no mobility function!" The doctor gaped, bewildered, frustrated and exhausted. Dark rings encircled his heavy eyes; all hope of going home this weekend was now thrown out the window.

"You must come quickly!" The assistant ran out, with the doctor following close behind. When they arrived, the assistant's claims proved to be true; the NAL's were all gone.

The doctor examined one steel-reinforced cage; it was if someone shot a bullet, _but from the inside. _

"This is terrible!"

"So it's true..." A man pondered, announcing his presence as he walked up behind the two.

"Tsumejima-san!" Irukio bowed to the Yellow Tech President.

"Hazuko-san…" Yuuchiro turned to face him, "Did the same thing happen at your lab?"

"Every one of them. We need to get a SMND right away. I have a feeling that wherever they went, they all went to the same place."

"Irukio, initialize the Satelite Mass Network Detector!"

"Got it!" The assistant ran out of the room, leaving the investigative scientists and the two men to discuss the matter and it's complications.

"We need to hurry on that tournament. There's no telling when or how this will develop." Doctor Hikari spoke firmly.

"Yes…I'm thinking we may need more than just one person to handle all this. Perhaps we should use all the remaining participants?"

"We should weed them down to at least two teams. We don't need the public to panic, and with more people, we run the risk of this getting out." Yuuchiro ran a tired hand through his hair, which grossly hadn't been home for days to be washed.

"Hm, you have a valid point, Hikase." The Yellow Tech president mused, "We shall use the last two remaining teams to fight this." He began to walk out, "And take some time off, Yuu-kun. You look like hell." Hazuko left the room.

Yuuchiro shook his head and mumbled, "Right, like I'm going to be able to go home now?"

**0000000**

Kana posed in front of her standing mirror, straightening her clothes and debating over which way her airy, cream colored peasant shirt should be. _Untucked or Tucked in….Tucked in. It's cuter…_ She smiled, leaving the shirt tucked into a cute and simple knee-length, soft-pink skirt. The brunette picked up her PET, sitting on the edge of her bed, "Where could he be taking me?" she wondered aloud.

"Kana-chan, for the hundreth time, I don't know!" Raiden sighed aloud.

"I know, I know. It's just…killing me!"

"Miss Kana, your date has arrived." A butler announced on the PA in her room.

Kana bit her lip as she got off the bed and picked up her dark maroon purse. Standing in front of the mirror one more time, she turned and walked out of her room, into the hallway. Her white heels clacked gently against the wooden stairway as she made her way down the spiral stair-case and she smiled instantly as she saw Rukku waiting by the large front-door.

He could have any girl with a flash of his smile, but they all seemed too whiny and high-maintenance for him. He had never really had a crush on a girl before, and felt content to be single. But he realized how attached he had gotten to the clumsy yet intelligent brunette in the few days they got to know each other. IPC had done frequent business with Yellow Tech, and he had seen her often at parties, conventions, meetings, and all sorts of gatherings, but he had never really gotten to know her. She seemed so professional and he assumed that she was just as closed off as he was. But as he watched her approach, he realized how wrong he had been, and how much more there was behind her shining hazle eyes.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Ready when you are." He nodded, holding out his arm for her to take.

He began to drive her to their destination, but would not tell her where exactly they were going.

"Thank you for going with me to the concert, by the way." Kana expressed her gratitude once more.

"Certainly." He accepted, and all fell silent again.

The brunette let her hair fly back as they drove in his black convertible. The sun was just beginning to set over the horizon, and so she watched the scenery glow in vibrant colors of yellows, oranges, reds and pinks.

"You know, you're not like most girls." Rukku spoke up.

Kana blushed, "Why do you say that?"

"Well you're not materialistic. No doubt your family is rich, yet you go for the simple life, driving a simple car, making your own meals, and most of all, you don't let it get to your head. Most girls would take advantage of their financial status if put in your situation, and it seems most girls in your situation are stuck up brats."

Kana laughed, "My mother always taught me to be humble. She told me that it's easy to want—it's what we're programmed to do. But to be happy with what you've got, and cherish each day like it's the best day of your life takes real heart. She always told me that in the end, it's the heart that matters and not what you have, because in the end, people will remember you for your heart and not your material possessions."

Rukku pondered on these words long and hard. He had never heard his father say anything quite so profound, and in fact, what he had told Rukku seemed to contradict everything Kana said. He always told Rukku that, "it's best to get rid of your heart because it only allows you to become weak," and that "the weak always fall behind."

"Is it okay to fail?" he asked quietly, keeping his eyes on the road.

Kana nodded, "Of course. And as long as you get back on your feet, you never really fail. And it's okay to fear failure, but I wouldn't advise it. Whether or not you fail at something does not make any difference in who you are. It's what you do with that experience that truly determines your character."

He thought hard on how valid her words were, then smiled, "Miss Kana, you are something else."

The brunette laughed, "Oh trust me, this is stuff my mom told me. She was a creative and smart lady; I could never come up with this on my own." She squinted her eyes as she looked at the horizon. "I miss her a lot, but I can feel her watching over me all the time, and I almost feel she's there…like the sun…keeping me warm and lighting my way through hard times." Kana laughed again, "and there goes my poetic romantic side, rambling off again."

Rukku pulled off the exit and began to drive down a small, worn road. Kana still wondered where they were headed, but Rukku wouldn't give her any clue at all. As he pulled into a parking lot, it became clearer where he was taking her. She undid her seat belt when he motioned for her to stop.

"Wait here." He got out, walked around the front of the car, and opened the door for the blushing brunette.

"Thank you." she beamed, getting out of the car with as much grace as she could muster. _Oh please,__ for just this night,__ don't let me fall or trip or do anything clumsy! _

The two of them walked up to a dock full of harbored fishing boats. They began walking toward one which looked different than the rest.

"Are we going to catch our own dinner?" she chuckled

"You'll see." Rukku looked over, smiling.

They walked onto the deck of the boat and Rukku opened a door that led below the deck. He held it open for Kana to climb down. When she got inside, she gasped, amazed.

There, in the middle of the room, was a candlelit table set for two. On either wall were two large windows, to see the orange sun set. Rukku stood behind her, and leaned over her shoulder to whisper, "do you like it?"

Kana nodded excitedly, "I do! This…did you do all this for me?"

Rukku took her by the hand and led her over to the table, pulling out the chair for her to sit like a gentleman would. After seating her, he seated himself and felt the boat begin to pull away from the dock.

"Wow…this is so…nobody has ever done anything like this for me." The girl sat, staring into his eyes.

"Then they haven't been treating you like you deserve, Miss Kana." He unfolded his napkin and set it onto his lap. "Someone so unique and caring deserves only the best."

Kana could not stop smiling. She saw the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. "Do you think we could go up on deck? I want to watch the sun set."

"Sure." Rukku stood up and pulled out her chair for her. The two made their way up to the deck, standing in the sky's orange and pink glow. He stood behind her, never feeling so nervous in his life. Slowly _–Careful Rukku, this moment is fragile, one wrong move, and you could break it all- _ he lifted his hands and wrapped them around her petite waist hesitantly.

Sensing his hesitation, she placed her hands over his and leaned against him, welcoming the romantic gesture. Rukku smiled warmly as he took in the sweet scent of her hair, watching the sun make it's final appearance before the night, with it's shimmering stars, would steal all the glory.

_You have stolen my heart_

**0000000**

The core broke open, allowing the inside to expand, as the tiny layers of metal began to unfold. One after another, the metallic spheres began to grow, weaving and connecting to one another.

The process, from afar, looked like a swarm of bees forming together to make a large grander image. The snowy and bleak terrain of Shaaro did not seem to bother the new structure that had formed. It was a small, simple, circular building with a red aura surrounding, which seemed to protect the building from the harsh wind and snow.

A bald man with a scraggly grey beard approached the building which had appeared in the snow. He stepped forward, admiring the ancient words scripted upon the front doors of the mysterious edifice. Taking the handles, the man felt a shock that ran through his fingertips, causing him to shudder. "Such power." He whispered before entering.

The inside was simple; a long red carpet, leading up to a red ornate altar. Along either side of the carpet and around the whole room were tall pedestals, topped with bowls of oil, in which fire burned with passion. However, the altar in the center of the room served a different purpose; on it stood two prongs, obviously meant to hold up something, but whatever it was, it was missing. On the opposite side of the room from the door, hung a lions head with an oil bowl in it's open mouth, which remained to be lit.

"Time to find your owner." The man smirked.

**0000000**

"_Breaking her heart  
you tear her apart  
would it just kill you to say how you feel?  
She will move on  
Like nothing is wrong  
How can you say love is not real?"_

"Aren't these guys great?!" Netto shouted as the crowd sung along

"They're pretty good!" Enzan had to shout back.

"_Can't you be honest and see  
you caused this tragedy  
So go in and clean up the mess  
And make it at that  
To never come back  
And the girl will truly be blessed"_

"They're kind of emo, you think?" Enzan asked the other.

"Yeah, but they sure know how to relate to people!"

The song closed and other opened, a slow song.

"Alright girls, listen up, I need a female that can sing. Do I have any volunteers?" The charming lead singer announced, causing shrills and screams to fly in the air.

"Does he have to ask?" Enzan asked, wincing as the girls' high pitched tones pierced his eardrums.

The lead singer walked along the front stage, looking at all the girls, waving their hands in hopes to be picked. "Hmm…I don't know, how about…you!"

Kana froze. _He…he's pointing at me…I…I didn't even raise my hand! Oh god…_ The lead singer held out his hand for her to take, and she took it nervously. Rukku helped her get onto the stage (and averting his gaze seeing as she was wearing a _skirt_ ).

The moment she was given a microphone was the moment she finally realized what was happening. She stood up there, facing the lead singer who had his arm around her shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Kana." She replied nervously, but smiling up a storm.

"Are you familiar with the song, 'Angel'?"

"Hai." She responded.

"Alright then, I want you to sing the chorus with me, you ready?" Kana nodded, and he began to count, "5, 6, 7, 8,"

"_Something's happened to my soul  
The ice has melted away  
You have warmed what once was cold  
Promise me you'll stay  
I need your heavenly touch  
I need your grace and love  
I need…I need  
my angel."_

"Wow, that was beautiful." He smiled, and she blushed madly.

_Never knew she could sing so wonderfully, _ Rukku thought with a smile as he watched her on stage.

The microphones turned off, and the singer leaned over to whisper in her ear and give her directions of which lines to help him sing. She nodded, and the mic's were turned back on.

"Alright, Kana-chan, are you ready to rock."

"I am ready to rock!" She pumped her fist into the air with a determined look.

"Enzan…is that Tsumejima Kana?"

"It looks like it."

"This is hilarious." Netto chuckled.

The lights faded and the music began to play lightly, introducing the song with a soft piano piece.

"_I've been down at my worst  
thought I was born with a curse  
that I would never love life  
It didn't seem like I needed  
A heart wrenching feeling  
Of _ _emotions and goodbyes_

_But you crossed my path  
Opened my heart to find  
That love isn't all that bad  
And I don't care if it blinds_

_It's only the light of an angel."_

Kana began to sing along as the chorus came up.

"_Something's happened to my soul  
The ice has melted away  
You have warmed what once was cold  
Promise me you'll stay  
I need your heavenly touch  
I need your grace and love  
I need…I need  
my angel."_

The song became hers and the singer rested his voice while she took the spotlight

"_found a stranger on my journey  
and it took a while but I know  
his heart warmed up to me  
and now I'll never let it go_

_He seemed callous and cold  
A wonderful heart hidden inside  
But I knew frowning would get old  
So I made up my mind_

_And showed him he's an angel_

The two began to sing along, Kana feeling more confident as ever, as the previous lines came out smoothly and sweetly.

"_Something's happened to my soul  
The ice has melted away  
You have warmed what once was cold  
Promise me you'll sta  
I need your heavenly touch  
I need your grace and love  
I need…I need  
my angel._

As the lead singer sung the bridge, she sung his echo, joining him only at the last line as the harmony to his tune.

_I think I found heaven (heaven)  
Shining in your embrace (in your embrace)  
And if this is heaven (heaven)  
Please don't take it away.._

The two began to sing as before, in synch and in tune.

"_Something's happened to my soul  
The ice has melted away  
You have warmed what once was cold  
Promise me you'll stay  
I need your heavenly touch  
I need your grace and love  
I need…I need_

_I need your heavenly touch  
I need your grace and love  
I need…I need_

_I need to feel heaven in my heart  
I need to hold heaven in my arms  
So I need…_

_  
my angel"_

The song ended with the cymbals leading off the end. When the song was over, the handsome lead singer took her hand and raised it into the sky.

"Give it up for Kana-chan!" He announced as she bowed.

_I'm the luckiest girl in the world… _She thought, grinning as the singer turned to shake her hand and help her offstage. As she stood by Rukku, listening as the last song of the night played, so many thoughts raced through her head. _Can it get better than this? I can't believe I just sung with Tetsukya Atoshi, lead singer of The Nine Thousand. We won our first battle, Rukku took me on the most romantic date possible, and I got to watch the sunset with his arms around me. Mother…_ she closed her eyes, listening to the music play, …_can you see me now? You've been watching over me, haven't you? Thank you…_

The Concert ended, and as Enzan exited the building, he felt Netto tug on his hand, forcing him to stop. "Hm?"

"Let's wait. I want to say hi to Kana."

"Good luck finding her." Enzan grunted. He leaned against a nearby wall, tired from the day.

"Kana-san!" He called, spotting her as the last of the crowd exited.

"Huh?" The female brunette turned to see Netto waving her over. "Oh, hello Netto-san!" she smiled. Rukku, however, did not. He followed her close behind, meeting Enzan's emotionless gaze.

"That was beautiful, Kana-san. I never knew you could sing."

The female blushed, "Thank you. I didn't even raise my hand or scream and he picked me." She shook her head. "I feel like the luckiest girl alive."

"You two did well in your battle today." Enzan spoke up.

"You as well. So the rumors were true." Kana laughed. Her PET began to ring, and Raiden spoke up.

"Kana-chan, your father is calling. He says it's urgent."

"Excuse me, I have to take this." She smiled then walked a distance away, leaving Netto, Enzan, and Rukku alone.

"So how long have you two been dating?" Rukku asked, pretending to be interested.

"A little over two years." Netto looked at Enzan, who nodded, "Are you and Kana dating or just friends?"

"Well…I'm not sure…I guess we're dating. Tonight was our first date."

"So you work at IPC, right?" Enzan asked.

"Yes, I'm president actually." Rukku corrected.

_Hah! I __**KNEW **__he'd say that!_ Enzan had to suppress from laughing.

"Where do you two work?" Rukku asked.

"I work at Densan Lanes just down the street from IPC, actually."

"And I work at SP Games in the mall." Netto chuckled then mocked the store's corny slogan, "where you'll always find a Su-Per deal on games!"

Rukku had to laugh a little. Even if he didn't trust Netto's partner, he couldn't deny that Netto himself reminded him of Kana.

Enzan picked up on the smile, which was not a smirk. No, it definitely was not a smirk, and the fact that it was devoid of any rudeness or mal intent put eldest of the three on edge. He wrapped his arm around Netto's shoulder _as if marking his territory_, "well _we _ should be going. It's getting late. Good seeing you two."

"Yeah, you too." Rukku waved slightly, then held his hands behind his back as he waited for Kana to finish with her call. The female brunette came back with a worried expression on her face, "What's the matter?"

"The NAL's. YellowTech and SciLab had us collect them so they could run experiments on them. Every single one is missing. It's as if they grew legs and walked away!" she ran a hand through her brown hair. "Ohhhh this is bad…what a way to ruin the evening."

**0000000**

Oh yes, Kana, and it's about to get worse :3 Let the mayhem begin! Thanks again for the reviews!


	7. The Curse of Divison

**Chapter 7: The Curse of Division**

**0000000**

Rukku frowned. "The NAL's?"

Kana bit her lip, "I shouldn't have told you that…it's confidential Yellow Tech information."

"If I know what's going on, I can lend IPC's technology to help with whatever assistance the labs may need."

The brunette yawned, "Let's talk more in the car…I'd feel safer if no one overheard." Rukku nodded and the two made their way to his convertible. As they got in the car, Kana sat back against the seat and closed her eyes. "The NALs are what we were collecting for the prelims. Our lab and SciLab have been conducting experiments and have found out that the NALs contain networks within them, and some of them have grown. We never got the chance to really find out how to jack in to them. Now they've just completely vanished."

"Did someone steal them?" The black haired president asked as he drove his date home.

"My father says that the cages look like the NALs themselves forced their way out…like someone shot little bullets from the inside. Both the labs are running a satellite mass network detector, but to distinguish between the many networks in this world can take days, sometimes weeks. It's the only way to find them though. Hopefully the NALs' network will be diverse enough to pick out from the millions of little networks all over the globe."

She sighed, "also…I'm not supposed to tell you this either, but they're going to take the last two teams standing to investigate the networks once we find them. If the NALs prove to be a threat, it'll be the teams' job to get rid of them."

"Miss Kana, I won't tell a soul. I may have a product that will help speed up the SMND search. I can give Yellow Tech a low rate on the booster, even give it free of charge. Just say the word."

Kana's eyes gleamed with gratefulness and admiration, "Really? I mean, I don't want you to think that I'm trying to take advantage of your status. Even if you weren't president of IPC, I still would have told you what was going on because I trust you."

"I know, Miss Kana. That's why I'm offering." He smiled a bit.

"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this helps."

They continued to talk about the tournament and the NAL situation until he reached her driveway. He opened her door and escorted her to the house until they were standing in front of it.

"I'm sorry. I know I killed the mood ever since I got that phone call." She looked up at him, "I really did have a great time. Today was just…amazing. From the battle, to the dinner to singing on stage with the Nine Thousand, I mean, everything was so perfect." She smiled, "and I feel as if I've gotten to know the a part of the real Rukku, and I'm lucky for that. Thank you…for everything."

"No…thank you…thank you for being the way you are." He smiled and melted her heart for the hundreth time that day. Brushing a few chocolate strands of hair behind her ear, he leaned over and kissed her on her soft, blushing cheek. Rukku pulled away and smiled, "Oyasume, Miss Kana. See you tomorrow."

Kana blinked a couple of times, taking time to register everything that had just happened as he walked back to his car. "Oyasume! See ya!" she called after him, waving slightly before she inserted her key into the front door. Her heart was racing at a hundred miles per hour. Anything more, and she was sure it would burst out of her chest.

**0000000**

"What was that all about?" Netto asked, laughing, as they walked across the parking lot.

"What was what about?"

"I saw you got a little defensive when we were talking to Rukku."

"Yeah, well, he smiled at you, and it was a nice smile. It just…startled me, is all."

"Remember his comment to us when we first encountered him? I highly doubt that I'm his type. Besides, you heard him. Tonight was his first date with Kana-san."

"Yeah…you're right." Enzan mumbled the last part, for it was a wound to his pride.

Netto shook his head and laughed again. "So whom would you rather go up against tomorrow? Sarena and Laika or Kana and Rukku?"

"Neither, if it can be avoided. Kana and Rukku simply because I just hate the kid, and Sarena and Laika because they know our style and we know theirs. Especially Laika's."

"Hm, we'll just have to see."

"I need to pick a few things up at the store, do you mind stopping?"

"Not at all." Netto shrugged and Enzan pulled into the driveway of a small corner drug store.

The two got out of the car and felt the chilly late-winter air nip against their skin and redden their noses. Entering the store, they were thankful for it's warmth. Netto meandered around the aisles, eyeing all the Valentines Day gifts. From candy hearts to over-sized stuffed bears, Netto wondered how some people managed to "forget" about Valentines Day.

Feeling someone's gaze on him and noting a dark figure in his peripheral vision, Netto turned around to see…_no one…it's just late Netto. Don't let your imagination get to you. Lay off the curry._

Walking around into another aisle, he saw a figure move quickly around the corner at the opposite end. Netto walked down the aisle and looked around only to see a clerk looking at him as if he was crazy. Netto smiled sheepishly then narrowed his eyes past the clerk out the window, as the figure seemed to have gone outside.

It's luring me…should I go out there…well…I have no choice, really… 

Netto walked out of the store's warmth and shelter, and into the dark, cool, night. "Is somebody there?" A figure walked around from behind a pilar, wearing a hooded cloak.

"I came to warn you, Netto-san. You and Enzan are in grave danger. There are those who seek revenge against you. The four elemental temples have risen up. If you do not win this next round, your life may be in danger, for he who seeks to harm you will take hold of the elements and destroy you two."

"What? How do you-"

"Netto-kun, there you are!" Netto spun around to see Enzan waiting with a bag in his hand. "What are you doing out here?"

"Talking to…" Netto turned back to see the figure had disappeared once again, "…no one…what the heck..." he muttered inaudibly.

"Well I got what I needed. Let's get going."

"Yeah…"

As Enzan drove, he noted Netto's quietness, which everyone knows is quite rare. "Are you okay?"

"…do you sometimes wonder if we really killed Shuuseki?"

Enzan was taken aback, but answered anyway, "I did a lot right after we killed him, but seeing as we haven't had any problem, I don't anymore. Why do you ask?"

"I…" _He'll never believe what happened… _ "…no reason. Just…wondered. That's all."

They rode the rest of the way home in silence, only talking when Enzan dropped Netto off at his apartment to say, "Love ya, see ya," as was so customary, Netto often wondered if there was any meaning to it anymore. Not that he doubted their love for each other, but the brunette noticed that they rarely expressed it anymore.

Collapsing on his bed later that night, Netto lay awake, staring at the ceiling, which would light up sometimes as cars drove by outside his window. _Just who was that girl, how does she know about Enzan, what about the elements? _ Thoughts raced through his head as they kept him awake.

"Netto-kun…" Rockman chimed

"You're still awake too?" Netto asked, not moving.

"Can't stop thinking about that girl."

"Me neither."

"She knows too much." Rockman said with worry reflecting in his quiet voice.

"My thoughts exactly." Netto sighed. "But the fact that she warned me makes me feel as if she doesn't want to see us harmed. And what is this with the Elements?"

"I have no idea."

"Did you tell Blues?"

"No…" the blue navi trailed off.

"Yeah, I didn't tell Enzan either…that girl just vanished. But like he'd believe that."

"I suppose we probably should try to get to sleep. According to what she said, we're going to need our strength tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right. Good night, Rockman."

"Night, Netto-kun."

**00000000**

"Haruka-chan…"

"What is it? Yuu-kun, is everything alright?" the female held the phone in her trembling hands, grasping onto her husband's every word.

"Chaos has erupted here. The specimen we've been tested has broken out of the Labs, even over at Yellow Tech…who knows how long it'll be before I can come home."

Haruka felt like crying. This happened over and over, time and time again, and she could barely stand it anymore. "I'll be right there."

"What?" the scientist asked, a little bewildered.

"I'm bringing you a good dinner, and I'll camp out there with you. I miss you so much, Yuu-kun."

Yuuchiro smiled, "alright. Aishiteru, Haruka-chan."

Haruka smiled, "I love you too…with all my heart."

**0000000**

"Oi! Hatsu-kun! I'll see you tomorrow, kay?" A spunky red-haired man called.

"All right, see you! We'll kick some butt tomorrow!" the friend, another strong-willed young man of about 18 called back.

Both got in their cars, unaware of the two pairs of watching eyes.

"They're our victims?"

"Not victims. Just…hosts."

"Those poor humans…"

"This is a matter of the fate of planet Earth. They can stand to lose a battle." The watching eye stood up from behind a bush as the two cars pulled away. "Lets go. You follow the young one there. I'll follow the red haired one."

"Hai."

Later in the evening… 

"Man, I'm so psyched!" the redhead hopped down onto his couch, unaware that the same eyes were now still watching him. The watcher tapped the glass that was separating himself from the tourney participant and melded right through the wall as if it wasn't even there.

Before the spiky redhead knew, he was being gagged with a cloth, which quickly sent him off to dream land. The mysterious being held out a device, pulling the navi within the man's PET into it; The unsuspecting navi was put to sleep right away. A clone was soon made of the navi, and the figure put the navi back into its PET, with a virus to make it forget what had happened, of course.

After the figure injected a green liquid into the defenseless man, he slid hand slid over the redhead's forehead and held there for a good thirty seconds before pulling away. The figure stood at the entrance of the man's apartment and whispered a few words of a completely foreign language before exiting.

**0000000**

The ride over to tournament in Enzan's car was a silent one. Netto had hardly spoken anything, save for the "hi" "ready?" and "of course" he said when first getting in the small car. Ten minutes had passed as the uneasy quiet began to irritate Enzan to the point he felt the absolute need to speak; any more silence and he would have gone crazy.

"Something's up. Spill." He demanded.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I'm just tired."

Either Enzan's mental lie detector was working quite well that day, which was probable, or Netto was bad at lying, which was also probable. Nevertheless, Enzan wasn't going to let the brunette get off so easily.

"Cut the crap, Hikari." Netto looked over and sighed. Whenever Enzan used his last name instead of his first and mixed it with some sort of swear word, he knew that the older was either being very serious or in a rather intolerant mood. This time it was both. "I know you're lying because A, you're always hyper even when you're tired, B, you usually go quiet when you're thinking about something bothering you, and C, you were like this last night too."

"Yeah, well if I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

"I don't feel like it."

Enzan raised an eyebrow. Something was seriously wrong; usually he could get the brunette to spill his heart out, sometimes go on longer than he cared to listen. He began to wonder if he had done something wrong.

"Netto-kun…" he started and then sighed, "I'm sorry I raised my voice. But something's obviously bothering you and I hate to see you like this." _Okay, so if scolding the little brain out of him doesn't work, then maybe some fluffy mushy-ness will. _Ah, but Enzan, you should know that Netto is a stubborn lout, and so he managed to stay closed up until they arrived at the arena.

"Just forget it, okay? I'll feel better once we win this match."

_At least it hasn't sucked all the confidence out of him. _ Enzan thought as they walked into the large building. The procedure went on as before, and this time it was down to four teams.

As the remaining teams viewed the board in the backstage to see which team they'd be competing, Netto and Enzan looked over at their opponents: A red haired man and a younger guy. Partnered with Laika and Sarena were Rukku and Kana.

"Looks like your wish came true." Netto murmured. The two looked over at Sarena and Laika, whose countenances were quite hard to read. Enzan knew, however, that whenever they showed the least emotion, they were the most worried, upset, or angry (or at least in Sarena's case.)

The P.A. Chimed for the participants to take their places. As Enzan and Netto passed by the Shaaroian duo, they paused to wish them good luck.

"Break a leg." Netto gave them thumbs up.

"Beat him good, for me." Enzan said with his voice low.

"It'll be my honor." Sarena muttered back through grit teeth.

"Don't let us down out there."

"Don't worry, we won't disappoint you." Laika nodded in agreement, "They may be tough, but so are we. It'll be a good show."

The two parted ways as Enzan and Netto went to find seats and Sarena and Laika went off to prepare.

"I'm going to go get something to eat, do you want me to get you anything?" Netto asked.

"Eh, something light. I'm not real hungry." Enzan responded and the brown haired one took off.

It was still fifteen minutes before the battle began, however, and when most would take the time to go over their game plan, Rukku had a different idea.

"Miss kana, would you like me to get you a drink before the match starts?"

"Oh! That'd be great, thanks." She nodded. Rukku hurried off to the refreshments table and kana took a seat at a table, taking the time make sure she had all the battle chips needed for her next battle.

Splash.

Kana gasped as Rukku had tripped and succeeded in spilling fruit punch all down her shirt and skirt.

"I am so sorry!" he gasped and immediately grabbed a few napkins to help clean up.

"It's alright…ah, shoot, these'll have to be dry cleaned." She scrunched her nose.

"I have an extra change of clothes in my car! Actually, they're work clothes, but at least they're clean and dry. I just picked them up from the cleaners earlier. You can wear them if you'd like!"

Kana hesitated, but then decided to take his offer. He looked upset enough already, she figured she'd let him make it up. "Yeah, okay."

Rukku sprinted out the door and Kana continued to sort through her battle chips, trying to ignore the fact that the fruit punch was REALLY cold and the already frigid temperature back-stage didn't help. Within about three minutes he returned nearly out of breath and holding a navy blue oxford shirt and a pair of black slacks on a hanger.

"They may be a bit big." He said, handing the plastic-wrapped clothes over to her.

"Thanks." She smiled, taking the clothes and heading off to the bathroom. Rukku followed and waited outside, leaning on the wall and fumbling with his PET. Within a few minutes, she emerged, surprised to find that the clothes fit quite well.

"You can't even tell they're men's clothes." Rukku complimented.

"That's good. Yeah, it feels better to have something clean to wear." She smiled. "Thanks." She began to walk back to the arena when she felt someone tug on her wrist. Turning, she saw Rukku reaching out and looking hesitantly into her eyes. "huh?"

"Wait…kana…there's something I want to say…before the match." He began, almost whispering.

She turned around completely and walked closer to him to hear him. "Yes?"

"In case we don't match the win, I mean in case the win we don't match… I mean—"

"In case we don't win the mach?" she corrected, laughing a little.

"Yeah…" he said, rubbing his head and blushing furiously, "that…I just wanted to tell you that I'm really glad I got to meet you." he moved closer but averted his gaze for fear of any rejection, "and well…I really…I _adore_ you, Kana." He took the chance and looked at her face to see her smiling widely.

"You have no idea how long I've liked you…before I ever really knew you…" she trailed off, blushing just as brightly. Their eyes looked into each other's as if seeing things no one else could, and before they knew, their lips were touching in an embrace no one else could feel.

Rukku suddenly found himself, as he was lost in her kiss, and inconspicuously pulled out a light blue cloth from his pocket. He held it in his hand as it weaved through her hair and hung lightly from his hand.

As if on que, a certain black haired male turned the corner and saw the scene all too clearly.

"Netto…" he paused, whispering the name in shock. He couldn't believe it…the one name he truly loved, the one name he would sacrifice his life for, was the one name that had now betrayed him.

Enzan turned, doing a 180, and walked with pain in every footstep he took. His stomach was curling, diving, and tears threatened to escape his eyes; as he got closer to the arena doors, however, his mood quickly changed, and anger filled his countenance. As he sat and the match begun, Enzan's eyes glued to Rukku as more hatred ran through his veins than a darkloid of the purest evil could possibly bear.

"Ugh. The line was huge! If it weren't for the fact that I'm starving, I wouldn't have even bothered" Enzan turned to see Netto return, carrying some food and a look of pure oblivion. He had no idea his other half was steaming with anger over something he hadn't even done. "Anything interesting happen?"

"Nope." Enzan replied stiffly and leaned away from Netto and toward the other side of his chair.

Every move Netto made, Enzan battled it. When Netto had tried to place his hand over Enzan's, the older quickly coughed on it then kept it in his lap.

_Oh great, now he's paying me back for earlier. _ Netto sighed. Little did he know how wrong he was.

**0000000**

DUN DUN DUN! The angst boat has arrived! Oh my god you have no idea how many ideas are brewing in my head right now! I knew this would happen once I started school. I KNEW IT! Arghblabfjlfjadjafjjad. Anyways! Hopefully chapter 8 will be up soon! I've begun to write it and I am SO psyched. If it weren't for the fact that it's midnight, I'd keep writing XD But I figured I'd update before I go to bed Thanks so much for your reviews!


	8. Dreams and Legends

_There lay an old legend, born so long ago that the memory of it has been swept away to the sands of time, with only so few that know of it's truth. Humans go about daily business, ignoring the mystery that surrounds them consistently. It's the even hum of harmony is so tremendous, that it has become common to simply ignore it._

_It is the four elements. Little do the inhabitants of the earth realize the great and terrible war that set the basic structure of the earth on its own natural course. Little do they realize that at one point, this was not so._

_Long ago there were four kingdoms who ruled over the elements with wisdom and integrity. During the early birth of the rotating sphere, the Great Judge set four noble constituents to control the nature and how it affected the earth. As the Great Judge was too busy keeping the stars and planets of the universe in check, that he would not pass the earth only once every 15,000 years. Every time he passed, he would bestow judgment if it was ever needed, and the cycle after his passing was called an era. For many eras, this judgment was not necessary, and the four kingdoms lived in harmony._

_But it was during the end of the fifth era that things took a turn for the worse. For reasons still unknown, the Family of Kuroi__ (Kingdom of Matsu)__ fell ill to a foreign sickness. Every one of the family members died, except for one, who disappeared without a trace. Most speculated it was the work of a group of vile and unruly citizens within the city who cursed the family, and the few who dared to question the neighboring kings were looked down upon._

_But now a question remained: Who would rule the Kingdom of Matsu? The debate began as a civil quarrel but soon spread to a civil war between the three remaining kingdoms. Greed overtook the kings and their families, as each vied to rule both their own kingdom and Matsu. Soon, battles erupted, causing an even worse imbalance in the elements. Fire tore down forests, the wind chilled the earth to a degree hardly any could stand, and the soil became hard and rocky, causing the destruction of farms and the creation of famines. _

_The kingdom of Pele had teamed with the kingdom of Perun to take down the third and weaker kingdom of Flora . But a quarrel between two brothers within the kingdom of Pele caused confusion, and Perun was attacked too. It was just as well, however, as Perun had been planning a surprise attack on Pele._

_It was during that last battle that the Great Judge had passed by. Stripping the constituents of their power, he set earth to govern her own elements. The kings and queens bowed in humility and shame, as the Great Judge declared his wrath. A wrath that would leave each family cursed for generations…_

**Chapter 8: Dreams and Legends  
**

Kana and Rukku took one side of the stage while their opponents, Sarena and Laika, took the other side. The younger pair was brimming with confidence, but make no mistake, older couple also remained sure of themselves.

However sure they were, however, the battle turned against the Sharoian duo. Because Rukku was able to slow R Ares with Irae's special ability, he could easily dodge her attacks. Kana was able to send out a widespread lightning attack that could harm R Searchman, even when she couldn't see him. R Ares was the first to fall at Rukku's attack, the same one that had taken down the magician, by reflecting numerous sword-type attacks back at her.

Laika held out much longer than his partner, but eventually was cornered and defeated. When Kana and Rukku emerged the victors, Enzan nearly lost it.

"No! Damnit!"

"Enzan-kun, please. Calm down…" Netto tried to placate the older, but it only earned him a scowl of the century. _Or don't…_

"Come on, it's time for our next battle." Enzan got up and walked ahead of the other, with Netto widening the gap for fear of the older one's rage.

Backstage, Rukku and Kana were being interviewed and Sarena and Laika were heading out the exit.

"Laika!" Enzan called, causing the two to turn around.

Sarena looked at him with tears in her eyes. It had been so long since he had seen her eyes filled with the helpless look of defeat. He pulled her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry…" she muffled a slight sob into his shoulder. "I tried so hard…" she pulled away, her red nose runny and tears running down her puffy cheeks. She set her hands on his arms, taking a deep breath, "be careful, Enzan. There was something about that battle, something…horrible."

"What do you mean?" Enzan looked at her with worry.

She looked up and around, as if searching for the right words, "It was…it was as if someone had sucked all the joy and happiness you've ever felt right out of you."

"Well yeah, defeat can do that to you."

"No…" she shook her head, "during the battle. It was a sickening, paralyzing feeling. I'm surprised we made it so far." she took a deep breath, regaining her composure, "At the end, when Rukku finished me off, things went blurry and I heard mom scream."

Enzan looked up at Laika to see that tears were almost in his eyes as well. _What the hell is going on? _ He hugged Sarena once more, lowering his voice, "I'll be careful, ena-chan. I'll do my best."

Netto turned and hugged the two as well, "You guys did great out there. You fought hard, that's all that matters."

She nodded as she pulled away. Enzan reached over and gave Laika a pat-on-the-back kind of hug. The two younger net saviors knew that whatever this was must've dug down deep…they had never seen Laika cry, and never wanted to.

The Sharoian couple turned away and retreated into the lobby (also known as the "losers lounge", but no one dared to call it that at this point) to watch the match from there.

"What do you think was going on out there?" Netto asked, baffled as they sat backstage, waiting for the match to begin.

Enzan scoffed. "I don't know, why don't you ask Rukku?"

However, being dense as he is, Netto didn't recognize the sarcasm in his voice and responded, "yeah right. I can just imagine going up to him and saying, 'hey Rukku, did you put some sort of curse or evil spirit on the match today?' If anything, I want to avoid him so we don't mess up our match."

_He's acting so well…_ Enzan thought as he looked over his PET to make sure Blues was in top fighting condition. Not that he doubted it, though; he was simply bored.

The time for the match came and all Enzan could think about was how badly he wanted to win so he could cream Rukku in the next match and Netto in the last. As the battle began, both Netto and Enzan noticed something odd: their opponents were proving to be no challenge at all.

The red-haired one swung a thorny whip at Enzan haphazardly, the later easily dodging it. But just as he landed back on the ground, something happened...

"What the hell?" Enzan heard Netto swear a few feet away, but he could not see him. All the lights in the arena had went off. He could hear the audience go up in a frenzy of confusion _"what's going on?" "Hey, we didn't pay money for this to happen!" "mama! Where are you?!" _However, Enzan remained on his guard, realizing that the darkness had impaired one of his senses.

Trying to find himself, Netto felt a shiver go up his spine as a airy female voice whispered in his ear. _"beware of the princess of Perun…she is not who she seems."_

"Who's there?!" Netto shouted, but all he got in return was,

"Netto, no one is touching you!" from an irritated Enzan. Though he couldn't see Netto, he could feel his brown eyes glaring daggers at him.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as a bone-chilling whisper drifted through his ears_"Do not war with your brother, oh prince of Pele, and you shall lift the curse."_

"Who are you?!" Enzan called, but only got a mocking remark from Netto.

"No one's touching you, Ryuke!" the brunette called out with a childish tone.

"Shut up, Netto!" Enzan growled.

The lights came back on with a sudden blinding flash, causing many people to wince their eyes. The battle resumed, and the opponents of the net saviors were quickly finished off, but the mystery still remained: _who or what were those voices, and what on earth were they talking about?_

After being pronounced the winners of the match and all the ego-boosting backstage by multiple magazine and TV reporters, neither Enzan or Netto felt up to doing much of anything. They made their way to the lounge to see the two soldiers much calmer. Sarena held a weak smile as she gave the two approaching net saviors a thumbs up.

"Congratulations" She announced.

"Thank you..." Enzan responded, "but that was too strange."

"I wonder why the dimensional area stayed up if the power went out..." Laika mused.

"My thoughts exactly." Enzan nodded, "it had to have been planned. We heard..." he paused, trying to form his words in order to make his clause sound not like that of a madman, but of true, solid facts. But alas, there was no way to dress up the truth with tact or professionalism, "we heard voices."

"What do you mean?" Sarena asked.

As Enzan and Netto explained what happened, two more baffled minds were added to the mix of contemplation. Two brains are better than one, but four confused ones are often rendered useless.

"It couldn't have been our opponents. These were female voices, and our opponents were males." Netto speculated.

"I don't know, but I'm almost positive of one thing..." Enzan began with confidence, polishing his reputation of the child prodigy, "it has something to do with the NALs."

"Do you think what happened to us had something to do with it too?" Sarena rubbed her chin pensively.

"I'd say so. Why has it only been us and no other teams?" Enzan gave his trophy of intelligence and observation one more shine before displaying it with pride in front of his comrades. However, having solicited this hypothetical trophy so many times, it went ignored, and the information was only used for personal benefit of solving the mystery.

"All I know is that I'm exhausted.." Netto stretched. He preferred the honest truth. He could have put the puzzle pieces together and added his two cents to challenge the black-haired genius, but he simply decided against it. He let Enzan do the brain work, and he was the extra; sometimes adding additional information, or other times executing the processes. "It's been a long day."

Enzan winced his eyes at the oblivious brunette with a secret loathing, which prompted a certain sickness within his core , "yeah, I bet it has."

**0000000**

_drip...drip...drip..._

He couldn't move his arms or his legs. The splinters of the rough-unfinished wooden chair burned against his bare arms, and the ropes that kept his feet tied to the legs of the chair were wound so tight, he could hardly feel his lower extremities anymore.

_Drip...drop...drip..._

His palms, which were forced outward, began to gather liquid. He looked closer..._is that...Blood?_ He looked up above him and gasped. A man was hanging by the neck from a beam along the ceiling, obviously dead. His lower legs were missing, and the blood that fell from them was collecting within the prisoner's hands.

Enzan couldn't tell who it was, but as the body spun around carelessly on the rope, he knew exactly who it was...it was the man whom he murdered. If the situation hadn't been so horrifying, Enzan would have laughed at the irony. Here he was, with his father's blood on his hands. How symbolic. But as the glint of a green eye caught his eye, blinded him with the shine of malice, and pierced into his most vulnerable core, he was quickly brought back to the present.

The lighting in the room was off. Why was it that he could see his father hanging above him plain as day, yet shadows covered up the person standing right from him? As he strained his eyes to see, he began to make out facial features, and then...

"This is revenge, Enzan. For you to die the same way you murdered father."

The blue-eyed Ijuuin knew this voice all too well. "Rukku! You brat! You don't know what he did to deserve his death!!" Enzan nearly screamed.

"Of course I know what you _believe_ he did. You believe that he murdered your mother, her ex-husband, and attempted to murder your whore of a step-sister."

Enzan grit his teeth. "You bastard!" he growled. Suddenly he screamed, he felt a searing pain go through his face as small drops of blood splattered into his eyes. A dark, crimson liquid began to pour down his cheek, past his lip, and off his chin. Having no way to wipe his lips, every time he opened them, his tongue could taste the bitter, salty taste of his own blood.

"Don't you speak to me with such foul words!"

"She is not...a whore!" Enzan managed to stutter out, but every movement of his mouth brought forth pain, as it forced him to use the muscles in his wounded cheek. But no matter—if defending the one family member that he could truly rely on, and truly loved, brought him a sting in his cheek, then so be it.

"Oh really? She's not?" Rukku smirked, then snapped his fingers.

The scenery changed, and Enzan soon knew where he was, as the smell of alcohol and cigarettes filled his lungs. The bar was alive with chit-chat and perverse laughter, and up on stage was black-haired female dancing seductively. It was, indeed, a younger version of Sarena up there with black high heels and indecent clothing that made her step-brother look away.

Enzan growled once more. How dare Rukku take her private memory and expose it to him? She had only told him about it once, and they soon dropped the subject. Enzan respected this—he knew it wasn't something she was proud of, and had there been any other way, she would have taken it; this was all because of her thirst for revenge on Shuuseki.

The older ijuuin then closed his eyes and smirked, "Rukku, you're only disproving your point. Sarena worked here because she dropped out of school to get revenge on Shuuseki. If you think you know everything that happened in the past, you should have at least known that."

Rukku growled, then slapped in on the face, specifically across Enzan's open wound, "I'm tired of your mouth." he growled. The scenery changed back, and Enzan was sitting under his dead father once more.

If anything, the prisoner was glad to be back; he preferred collecting the blood of his father in his hands than seeing the pain of Sarena's past. In a way, he was thankful that he was the one receiving this punishment and not her, and because of that, he welcomed any painful retribution that this young, ignorant brat could bestow.

"Enzan..." Rukku began, revealing a sharp silver dagger, "your future is death." As Rukku began to thrust the dagger toward him, Enzan's eyes widened then...

He sat straight up in bed with a cool sweat dripping down his forehead and off of his dampened hair. His cheek hurt, but as he ran his fingers along where the cut would have been, all he felt was soft, untainted skin. _I must have hit myself on accident..._ Turning on his side, he turned on the light as to see what time it was. _3:16. ugh. And I feel completely exhausted as well. _He went into the bathroom and cleaned himself up, then returned to bed once again. _No more nightmares, Enzan. You're going to need your strength tomorrow, _he reminded himself before falling into a more peaceful slumber.

**0000000**

Kana yawned, stretching her arms before going to bed. She turned off the light then hopped into bed, believing she would go into dreamland then wake up the next morning, rested and ready for a new day. She had no clue, however, that this was not so, and had not been so for the past few weeks.

As she finally fell asleep, there was a scurry among her room. Shadows began to take form into cloaked figures, cloaked figures closed in on her sleeping form.

"Should we? She will need her strength tomorrow."

"We have to. The princess must know that the gateways are complete."

"She will be furious at us if we do not wake her. Let us give her a taste of her power." the hooded figure smirked, "It may be enough for her to drown out her other form when she goes back."

All four of them nodded, then folded their hands, palms together, arms forming a straight line from elbow to elbow. They chanted a foreign language, a tongue not recorded in any book, nor mentioned in the detailed writings of history—at least, not in anything available to the public eye.

The sleeping form began to stir, as if fighting the powerful urge to wake. Her hands clenched into a powerful fists, whitened with the recession of blood. Her eyes opened wide, staring off into a space with a glazed look of demonic possession, then closing suddenly. She took a deep breath, then let out an exaggerated exhale. While her eyes remained closed, a satisfied smile curled her lips.

Viewing the world around her with the look of a mischievous faerie, she praised her awakeners, "well done, my servants. It is becoming easier to break free from this innocent girl's chains." the new form muttered with a slightly amused laugh, "weak." she looked up at the hooded figures, "What news have you for me?"

"All the gateways are complete, your majesty." the one who spoke bowed in reverence.

"Take me there at once!" she commanded.

"As you wish." another nodded. Joining hands, the hooded figures began to chant once more, and within an instant, left the Tsumejima household completely. Arriving in front of a pyramid type building, Kana, or whomever was in possession of her body, looked up at the edifice with childish glee. She ran to the doors, ignoring her drones which followed after. Taking the handle, she felt a tingle run through her arms. Opening the door, she walked inside slowly, as if unearthing a beautiful painting which had been lost to the sands of time. Essentially, it was the same thing.

She looked in the middle of the room, to find an empty stand. "Tomorrow...tomorrow I will take up my place again." she danced around where she stood, "My power will be restored!" She laughed with malevolence. Raising her hands to the sky, still laughing, sparks of electricity began to emit from her palms. And there she laughed; whether it was insanity or immense joy, it was nevertheless frightening. Finally lowering her hands, she looked to the hooded figures.

"Thank you, my servants." she looked around and sighed in contentment, "I am tired and need rest now." her servants nodded and took her hand once again, transporting her back to Kana's bedroom. "Tomorrow, I will restore Perun to it's power," she said, getting into bed, "Perun will rule this earth and all the elements. That is my promise."

**0000000**

Overlooking the ocean, an plain building lay hidden from sight beneath the shading of the trees. Within it, a large arena equipped with a dimensional area was set up as the sole purpose of it's existence. Viruses charged after a single figure, who gracefully deleted them all. The highest ranked EX viruses such as CirSmshEXes , WebbyEXes, MachoEXes, (and the one that perhaps prepared him the most) WeatherEXes, proved to be a challenge, but not one that he could not overcome. When the WebbyEX came rushing toward him with needle-like pincers and left explosive silver spiderwebs behind it, Rukku simply lept into the air, slicing the cyber spider in two with a program advance; The CirSmshEX was pelted by numerous Vulcan-type attacks; the MachoEX was seen approaching at not it's immense speed, but at a slow, snail-pace and easily taken out before it got a chance to get even close to where Rukku had been. But what trained his skills further, was not sending the lightning attacks back at the WeatherEX when it bestowed a thunder cloud above him; it was not countering rain with a torrent; it was not engulfing the virus in a helpless fire when meteors were sent at him; it was piercing the virus with a earth-type bamboo when it attacked rukku with lightning-type paralyzing electricity.

All the while as the training progressed, memories flooded his mind, which further intensified his training.

_The child chased after a butterfly amiss the tall green grass. Laughing, he caught it in his hands, only to reveal that the over zealous clasp had squished the fluttering insect. Rukku looked up at his father with sadness._

"_I kwilled it." he spoke innocently._

"_Don't worry. It got what it deserved; it was weak."_

_Rukku looked up with a childish gaze of speculation, "But I'm not stwong. Does tat mean I should die?"_

"_No. You are still a child. When you become mature, it is then when your strength will be tested. Become strong, and you won't have to worry about the consequences of being weak."_

"_So the weak deserve to die?" _

"_Yes."_

_With that, Rukku began to run around, chasing other butterflies. Whenever he caught one, he made sure to tighten his grasp as to kill the poor creature. "Like that?"_

_Shuuseki smiled, "Like that."_

His mind progressed further into the future, many years later, shortly after Shuuseki had kicked his elder son out of the company, the family, and out of presumed existence.

"_Rukku!" The man shouted with an irritated voice, "The files were to go directly to Kansoke-san, NOT his secretary!"_

"_Gomenasai!" Rukku haistilly bowed._

_Shuuseki shook his head with an irritated sigh, "That's all. Don't ever make that mistake again." _

_Rukku nodded, and as he began to exit the confinements of his father's office, he unmistakably heard a muttered, 'Enzan would have known...' "_

With the topic of his half brother in mind, Rukku's began to progress his physical limits. The elder Ijuiin brought up such a resentment, a hate, a bitterness of feeling which fueled his adrenaline.

He smirked at the shocked expression Enzan wore as he kissed Kana. His plan had worked flawlessly. At the night of the concert, he had asked Netto where he worked, and after doing his research, he found out what kind of uniform he wore, and what shifts he had. Knowing that Netto would most likely be coming to the arena straight from work, Rukku planned to have an identical outfit in his car, and the "accidental spill" of fruit punch on Kana wasn't accidental at all. The whole scheme was made complete by the blue cloth Rukku held behind Kana's head while kissing her, making it look as if he was holding Netto's bandanna. It was just sheer coincidence that the timing had been perfect, and Kana's hair color and length was about the same as Netto's when let down from his bandanna – not to mention, her height was nearly identical as well. It was also coincidence that Enzan had approached their direction from behind Kana, making it impossible for him to see the distinct facial and anatomical features that differentiated the two.

Rukku figured that even if the plan hadn't worked, he would have still gotten to kiss the girl whom he held on such high regards. And at that, a shot of the CirSmshEX pierced his armor and sent him flying. He waved at his assistant to turn off the dimensional area and staggered to his feet.

What was it that had suddenly thrown him off guard? Certainly, I couldn't have been, it was impossible...there was just no way...but truly, it was guilt.

He had used her. Honestly, he wanted their first kiss to be special and meaningful, but he had taken that away from her in his haste for revenge. And then he realized something more—a feeling which had never surfaced in his callous heart before—he realized that he _loved her._

**0000000**

Okay, I didn't lie! I really did have this chapter almost ready to be published around the time I put up chapter 7, but then something DEVESTATING happened: My computer had to be reformatted, and I lost EVERYTHING. I had about two pages backed up on a floppy disk, when on my computer I had saved 8 pages. I was so close! Each chapter is about 10 pages and it was almost done! But alas, I'm finished now, and actually, I think this chapter is better than it was.

Thank you all for your reviews! But I'd also like to ask my fellow authors to keep writing!! I don't know if you've noticed, the RM.exe section is pretty much dead now. I know school and all is pressing. Trust me—I'm in two AP classes, an honors class, and am struggling to get multiple low "B"s and one "C" up to "A"s. Junior year is hard enough, and as it is, I'm dealing with a lot of personal and emotional stress as well. But we can't let the obsession die! .o


	9. On a Valentines Day

**Chapter 9: On a Valentines Day**

**00000000**

The bells hanging limply over the glass door of the antique shop jangled with a clean, familiar chime as an airy female form entered the mystical store.

"Atsuka, we're back here!" A voice called from the back room, without having first seen the enterer.

"I know." the female called back with a soft voice. The girl wore a black and white striped turtleneck with a long spaghetti strap layered on top. She wore a black pleated skirt, dark grey stockings, and plain black shoes. Walking past the bookshelf that made it impossible fro anyone in the back room to see the entrance, Atsuka made her way toward the voice which had attempted to direct her.

The back room, in contrast to the main shop, was minimally decorated. The mystic air, however, abnormally intensified with the sight of two females sitting cross-legged on the floor around a crystal ball. The countenance of the first portrayed a woman always in deep meditative thought. The other, however, had a mien of a whimsical and easy-going child, even though she was the same age as her opposite. However, all three of them had similar attire, and even more notably, identical faces.

"The waves were distorted...how did the woman fare?" The seemingly oldest one asked the girl who entered.

"Safely. She is delivering her baby at the hospital as we speak." Atsuka responded as she sat down beside her companions.

"Miyuki-chan, you think we'll have enough power to get to them?" The lighthearted one asked.

"Our power is strong, If not strong enough, mother nature will surely aid us." Miyuki responded.

"Still doubtful, Chiya-chan?" Atsuka asked.

The one whom the name belonged to shook her head, "Not doubtful, just concerned."

"That's rare, even for you." Atsuka smirked.

"What are you getting at?" Chiya scowled childishly.

"Stop quarreling." Miyuki commanded sternly.

She was always the most mature of her sisters. Her mother, Kaede, having died after giving birth to Chiya was said to have transferred her spirit to Miyuki. As her father and those who knew their Kaede, watched Miyuki grow, they noticed a striking resemblance in Miyuki's behavior and her mother's. Kaede was a quiet lady, and very strong in her supernatural abilities, much like Miyuki. Chiya, the last-born of the three triplets, was exactly the opposite. She was perhaps the loudest and most care-free of the Kuroi clan. Though she as well possessed supernatural abilities, she was not as strong. Atsuka often chided her, saying it was because she didn't practice enough, but Chiya didn't care. She yearned to live a normal life like normal kids, and no one really forced her to practice.

"Miyuki-chan..." Atsuka began, causing her sister to look up, "there's just one problem with all of this."

"I am aware. Hopefully we'll be able to stop the virus before it spreads. Remember, when we go back, history is not yet written in stone."

"But I thought Duo wanted us to prevent the battle, not the virus that wipes out our clan..." Chiya spoke with seriousness in her voice. How could she not? The legend had said all but one of the Kingdom of Matsu had died. They knew that two of them, or perhaps all of them, could die in the past as well. "What will happen if we prevent the war? That will change history forever. Nothing will be the same! We'll be re-writing thousands of years of history."

"I have faith in Duo." Miyuki responded simply, "All I know is that the elemental kingdoms have been raised up for a reason. Duo wants us to go back in time. I believe that the last time he passed over earth, he saw how his curses on our families have been destroying us from within." she paused, closing her eyes and bowing her head, "Each generation of the Tsumejima family has been cursed with bearing the spirit of the Princess of Perun. The Ijuuin family is tearing itself to pieces. We have no mother..."

They sat in silence until Atsuka spoke up, "Then even if we die, it will be an honorable death..."

**0000000**

Ares came back to the PET, her arms full of data packages. "This is the most that I could find. Have you been able to put any pieces together?"

Sarena tapped her pencil lightly against the desk. "I think so. I talked to Netto-kun. He said that twice he's heard someone tell him things. First, outside of the corner store, and then the second time at the arena. We think it's the same person. We don't know what she has to do with the NALs though."

"Do you think she's the reason you heard your mother scream?"

"Most likely. Whoever she is, she knows about Enzan-kun and his relationship to Rukku. If she was warning Netto-kun against Rukku, then why did she cause the jerk to win?"

"Well I found some more information. Apparently all the NALs at the labs have disappeared. They've set up a Satellite Mass Network Detector, but no results have come back from that yet. I've also found Tsumejima-san's presidents address to the scientists at Sci-lab and Yellow Tech. They've been using the competition all along to collect those NALs and they're going to use the last four remaining participants to investigate them." Ares informed her as she sorted through the packages.

"So Enzan-kun was right." Sarena mused. "At the arena, that girl told them some stuff that sounded pretty cryptic. She mentioned a prince and a princess...the only place I can think of that has that kind of monarchical system is Creamland. But we know that Enzan-kun isn't the prince of Creamland..."

Laika came over and set his hands on her shoulders, causing her to jump a bit. "Can I help any?"

Sarena sighed, took off her reading glasses, and swirled around in her chair, "Why would someone call Enzan-kun 'Prince of Pele'?"

Laika raised an eyebrow, "'cause they found the wrong guy?"

Sarena laughed, "Come on, be serious now. Whoever told him this certainly wasn't making a mistake." she looked down at her paper where she had written the quote, then read it out loud, "Do not war with your brother, oh Prince of Pele, and you shall lift the curse...hmm."

"Y'know, it seems to me that Enzan has quite a family history. He doesn't get along with his step-brother, his father murdered your mother because of some ancient grudge, you guys took revenge on him, and now Enzan's step-brother wants revenge on you and Enzan."

"I just don't know what the curse is." she rubbed her temples as her brain began to ache.

"I think it has something to do with the ancient grudge Shuuseki was trying to cover up."

"Maybe..." she sighed, "all this supernatural stuff is so confusing."

"That's why I don't like to believe in it" Laika folded his arms, "maybe that fortune-teller girl at the antique shop could help. If this stuff is true, she should have the answer."

Sarena's eyes lit up, "You're right!" she stood up, grabbed her purse, PET, and fiancée "Lets go!"

"Wait wait," he maneuvered his wrist out of her grip, "I've got some paperwork I have to fill out for my superintendent. You go without me."

She stuck out her lower lip in a pout, "...okay..."

"Ena-chan..." he said with a warning tone, but she knew her puppy-eyes were getting through to him some what.

"Fine!" she whirled around toward the door and crossed her arms, "I'll go without you!" she said angrily, yet playfully.

Laika couldn't help but smile at her childish antics, and wrapped his arms around her. "I'll make you something special when you get back, alright?" he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Oh, alright." Sarena giggled, then turned around to face him. "I love you" she said, placing a quick kiss on his lips.

He received the kiss then smiled, "I love you too."

**0000000**

Sarena arrived at the door of the antique shop on the corner of Chigiri and Myou street. She heard the jingle of the bells above, a faint sound of females talking in the other room, and, as she made her way further, the sound of a loud clack behind her. She jumped, turning to see if she had accidentally knocked something over, only to find that nothing at all had been misplaced. Rationale and the smell of incense calmed her, but she became much more of her surroundings as she found her way to the counter.

Miyuki came out from the back room and made her way to the front desk, "Sarena-san, we must speak."

"So it was you." The black haired female said coolly.

"Come, there is much to explain. You have done well so far as to put together many things."

"How do you know so much?" Sarena asked.

"It is our gift."

"Our?"

"All of the Kuroi clan possess the ability…well, though some stronger than others." Miyuki explained

"I heard that!" Sarena heard a voice call from the back room.

"Come." Miyuki beckoned her to the back room. The seemingly eldest Kuroi took her spot where she had been seated, and Atsuka and Chiya made room for Sarena to sit around the over-sized marble.

"These are my sisters, Atsuka and Chiya. This is--"

"Sarena, yes, we know." Chiya rolled her eyes, then turned her attention toward the guest, " I'm the one she was talking about when she said 'some are weaker than others'."

"Oh..." The black haired female didn't know what to say. She felt as if she were being inducted into a cult. "You all look very similar."

"We're triplets." Atsuka stated plainly.

"I see. Well, getting down to the point, what's going on here? Why did I hear that voice?"

Miyuki began to explain, "Your fiancée was on the right track earlier."

"My fiancée? How do you know about him?"

Chiya pointed to the globe "That shows us all we need to know. Atsuka got a premonition that you were coming, so we decided to check and see where you were. And the ring on your finger told us he was your fiancée..." the girl chuckled, "or your secret lover."

"He's my fiancée," she told Chiya, then nodded to Miyuki, "go on."

The owner of the shop explained their past to Sarena, who by the end of the discussion, sat like a gaping fish.

"So Enzan is the Prince of Pele..."

"He personally is not. But in this time, and the way things are right now, we all very much resemble a person in the past. He resembles the Prince."

"And Rukku?"

"He is also a prince. In the past, they warred with each other for kingship, as their father was ill and most likely to die."

"I just can't believe Kana-chan is possessed. She's so sweet."

"Those are the curses each family got. In our family, a woman of each generation will die giving birth. It just so happened to be our mother."

"But why the scream during my battle?"

"Your team was not meant to go back to the past. Rukku, Kana, Enzan, and Netto must go back and change history. Laika has no influence in the past. You may prove to have some, though, seeing as you have Ijuuin blood."

Sarena shook her head, "No, I'm only related to Enzan through our mother...she wasn't an Ijuuin."

"Your father was a descendant of the Ijuuin clan. It's evident through your hair color as well."

"My father?"

"Notice how he died at the hand of another Ijuuin?" Miyuki explained.

"And Shuuseki died by ours..." Sarena pulled her lips in and pressed them together. "But...I just still don't believe that I'm really related to them."

It was now Chiya's turn to add insight . "When is your birthday? That will tell a lot."

"April 8th...why?"

"You're an Aries. Aries is a fire sign. Therefore, you most definitely are related." Chiya concluded.

"Aries? You mean Ares, my navi?"

" Aries is the star under which you were born. Your navi was most likely named Ares because of your strong affiliation with the fire clan." The "youngest" Kuroi explained. She was showing so much maturity and wisdom that her sisters were almost surprised.

"It was because of her link to the god of war. She was the red horseman." Sarena explained, then looked over at Miyuki to see if she recalled the incident.

"I remember that, but in a way, Chiya-chan is right. Ares was the Roman god of War, the Greek god was Mars, which is the ruling planet over your star sign, Aries." she explained. "That just adds one more piece of evidence to show that you are in fact related to the fire clan."

Sarena paused to look down at the crystal and think. After a long silence, she finally resumed, "So what does that mean for me?"

"Nothing." Atsuka said plainly. "You may be related, but only four can go back."

"But I can't let my brother go to the past by himself! What if he gets killed!?"

"You run the same risk if you go."

"I'll take that risk!" it seemed as if purple flames were burning in her eyes as she spoke with passion. If there was anything humorous about this situation, it was her Arian tendency to dive headfirst into action with courage--before really thinking things through.

"What about your Fiancée?" Atsuka asked, pointing out the obstacles in front of the Aries' metaphysical bulls-eye

Sarena halted to think, but then spoke with a quieter voice. "He knows there's no way I can let Enzan go alone on a dangerous mission without me. He's my brother, and the only family I've got left."

The triplets looked at each other with knowing glances-- there was no stopping this ram who had set her lead foot firmly on the gas pedal.

"...Then meet us here after the match."

**0000000**

The air was tense. Just one word would crush the fragile glass of silence on which they treaded on, yet the continued absence of conversation only served to thin that glass beneath them. Though Netto was dense, he had finally tuned into Enzan's drastic change in attitude and demeanor. True, he was cold, but to Netto, he seemed downright, Sharro-temperature chilly.

Yet there was something stopping him from saying anything. He was afraid that anything he said could and would make things worse. This feeling of emotional powerlessness, however, would aid him later.

Sarena and Laika met the two before the match. "I've found out some things." She declared, then began to explain the situation. By the time she finished, there was only a few minutes before the battle actually began.

"Kana? How is that possible?" Netto asked. "Are you sure they're not mistaking her for someone else?"

"It has to be her. Her navi is a lightning type. The princess of Perun was ruler over the lightning element, or more commonly known as air by today's standards."

Enzan remained silent. Rukku would be going with them to the past. Great. Not only that, but he'd probably try to kill Enzan for kingship. Even better. Maybe he could persuade evil schizo kana to strike Rukku dead with lightning bolt? That'd be nice.

"I still don't get what she was saying about me being an Aries. They didn't really explain that well."

"Oh, Aries is one of the signs of the zodiac. Astrologists use the placement of the stars and your sign to determine your immediate future." Netto explained, "I'm a Cancer."

"Oh, I get it now. So it's like a fortune cookie thing."

"Kinda."

"That's what I told you!" Laika slapped his forehead exhaustedly.

"Well you tried to dress it up in all these fancy terms like hororscope or something like that." Sarena put her hands on her hips defiantly.

"It's horoscope." he corrected, putting emphasis on the middle O.

"Whatever!" she huffed. "You don't even believe this stuff. Why do you know so much about it?"

"I'm a Virgo- I like to know a little bit about everything."

"Yeah right. More like you absorb the library." she scoffed, then turned toward Enzan "What about you, Enzan. Do you know your 'sign'?" she asked, making quotes with her fingers on the word sign.

"Capricorn" He said plainly, which ironically was a characteristic of his sign. Serious, seemingly cold, and aloof. Enzan seemed uninterested by the topic and quickly changed it, "It's almost time for our battle. Make sure you have all the chips you need." he sternly commanded Netto.

"Yes, mother." Netto rolled his eyes, and looked over his chips once more. "All in place." he looked up and smiled at the Sharroian couple, "Alright you two, we'll see you later."

"Break a leg, you guys!" Sarena waved as they began to walk away

"I hope to break two." Enzan said smugly.

Out on the stage, Netto and Enzan could hear the excited murmur of the crowd and a blurriness of announcer's enthusiasm echoing off the walls of the arena, despite the reverberating bass of the loud, blood-pumping music. They stood side by side behind the door to, what seemed, the ultimate battle. It was the final battle, as there had been so many before--and how ironic, that they had stood side by side in every one. Deciding to ignore the heaviness that had been weighing over their relationship, Netto took his partner's hand in his and gave it a light squeeze and a smile. For a moment, Enzan forgot all about the mishap with Rukku, he forgot about his current misery, and felt a spark of their love being revitalized for just a brief moment. Yet when Netto let go, and they walked onto the battle ground, Enzan remembered (what he believed to be) the truth. Despite the circumstances for this normally ambitious and determined individual, he felt even more driven than he could ever imagine possible.

Walking onto the stage, Enzan fixed his gaze on Rukku. In that instant, Enzan realized that Rukku knew...for Rukku was staring back with the same murderous, tigerish smear across his face. To the audience, it was another battle. Pretty important in their eyes, but by no means was it as symbolic to them as it was to these two step brothers. For them, it was a fight for honor, a fight for dignity. Whoever lost would symbolically die, and whoever won was the stronger. Neither of them would ever dream of loosing to the other. Just as Enzan was driven to be the best, Rukku was the same; For they were born on the same day, two years apart. They were both Capricorns: the most determined and ambitious of the zodiac.

"Battlers, take your stand! On your mark, get set...Execute!"

Light filled the arena as it had in the past few days, to the normal eye. But to Sarena and Laika; to Miyuki, Chiya and Atsuka; to Yuuichiro and Haruka (whom watched over via Television), this light symbolized the beginning. And they all knew...every beginning has an end.

As the battle began, and even before it did, there was no need for discussion on who would face whom—Rukku and Enzan immediately were at each others throats, ready to slice each other to bits.

"Interesting you would chose me, Ryuke." Rukku sneered as they dueled

"Why wouldn't I? You're the weakest." Enzan smirked, managing to slice Rukku across the cheek. _Oh how I hope that burns. You may torture me in my dreams, but I'll give you a living nightmare._

"I've had enough of your mouth." Rukku charged forward and ran around Enzan in a circle, with his sword-arm outstretched, threatening to slice Enzan through the stomach.

Enzan, however, simply dodged the blow by leaping upwards. "Then you shouldn't have asked for it."

They continued their duel, which almost looked like a dance. Rehearsed, practiced, and perfected to the point of where they may have been able to replicate every movement in their sleep.

Kana held up her own against Netto as well. Having known that she was an electric type, Netto had prepared earth type chips to counter it. After 10 minutes of non-stop battle, both had nearly exhausted their health meter. In her mind, Kana could tell she only had two chips left. Glancing over to the other two, she saw how relentlessly they were battling. Neither one was giving an inch.

After dodging a lance attack, she made up her mind. "Invisible!" she cried out, then disappeared from sight.

"Kuso..." Netto muttered, and looked around to try to detect any sort of movement. Instead he saw a spark ball begin to take shape behind Enzan. The sweat ran down his face, and his breathing was already hollow. With a last bust of effort he leapt in front of Enzan just as Kana was about to strike.

And Netto was out of the match.

Enzan, realizing that Kana was in range, pulled a move he had been saving for Rukku's finishing blow: the bloody quartet. With a spin, he managed to slice both Rukku and Kana. Falling out of her invisibility, she collapsed to the floor. Enzan saw a look of hesitation and determination in Rukku's eyes. Assuming the latter wanted to move his partner, Enzan took the opportunity to deliver Netto to safety: a door on the outskirts of the dimensional area, which allowed an official to help the victim off the battlefield. Rukku did likewise with Kana.

On opposite sides of the battlefield, the two remaining participants exchanged one glance with each other, then leapt right back into the same rhythmic play they had been performing before.

Clank...clash!...hyah!...clatter...clash!

Netto, looked helplessly onto the battlefield. He listened to the music playing, frequently interrupted by net-battler commentator, Ribbita.

"Wow, would you watch these two go! Such intensity! And go figure, whoever wins this match is at the top!" Ribbita exclaimed.

"That's right. But you'd think with their partners down, they'd be a little disheartened." The other commentator noted.

"Not these two! They act as if they were at the final battle! Who knows how long they'll hold out."

"At the rate they're going, we may be here all night!"

Netto listened as the music faded into another song

_ Nothing ever stops all these thoughts and the pain attached to them  
Sometimes I wonder why this is happening  
It's like nothing I can do would distract me when  
I think of how I shot myself in the back again  
'Cause from the infinite words I could say I  
Put all pain you gave to me on display  
But didn't realize instead of setting it free I  
Took what I hated and made it a part of me_

Never goes away  
Never goes away

And now  
_You've become a part of me_  
_You'll always be right here  
You've become a part of me  
You'll always be my fear  
I can't separate  
Myself from what I've done  
Giving up a part of me  
I've let myself become you  
Hearing your name the memories come back again  
I remember when it started happening  
I see you in every thought I had and then  
The thoughts slowly found words attached to them  
And I knew as they escaped away  
I was committing myself to them and everyday  
I regret saying those things cuz now I see that I  
Took what I hated and made it a part of me _

Rukku sent off a round of fire enveloped bullets at his opponent, who now stood atop a pile of rocks created by a previous attack. Enzan deflected the bullets with his sword, then hopped onto a dasher and headed straight for his opponent. Rukku took the delay as a chance to load a more massive attack: Hyper Burst. With the PA readily loaded, he aimed it toward Enzan with the intention to aim it at the glider and knock the rider off, unguarded. However, when the attack was carried out, Enzan simply leapt off it before the attack hit the glider, and took the chance to land behind Rukku. With his own Dream Sword ready for action, Enzan took the chance to slice his opponent across the neck. Not without receiving a counter attack aimed behind him and piercing him through the chest, of course.

When the fray had ended, it was evident that Enzan had been the victor. With just barely more health on his meter than Rukku, he was able to take the attack that he delivered and still remain standing.

"Gaddemu..." Rukku growled his profanity as the dimensional area dissipated. The battle was over, the loser determined, and yet again, the oldest had come out on top. Rukku skulked off the battlefield with more than a chip on his shoulder.

Netto joined Enzan in the center of the arena and the two were presented as the semi-finalist victors. Now they had 20 minutes to prepare for their final and last battle.

In the lounge, Kana sat with her head in her hands. She heard the door to the lounge open, but she didn't dare look up, for fear of seeing a disappointment or anger in his eyes. But in fact, Rukku was not angry with her. No, he directed all his inner frustration at the young man with narrow blue eyes, leaving his own face completely emotionless.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered just loud enough to break Rukku out of his daze.

Rukku wasn't sure what to say. All his life he had been told that losers were weak and would get no where in life. But now he saw this "loser" as the strongest person he had ever met. What would his father say? He would look down on Rukku with disappointment, and had he been in Rukku's shoes, would have completely disregarded the female with disgust. But Rukku couldn't bring himself to do that. Instead, he felt compassion welling up in him, prompting him to say something nice, like "it's alright, I still love you anyways." or "Don't worry, you did your best and that's all I care about", but the words seemed so cliché and foreign, that all he could do was say, "It's fine."

She looked up to see Rukku sitting across from her, looking at her with an unreadable face. It was perhaps one of the most intimidating moments. Was he angry, was he disappointed? She couldn't tell, and it made her all the more uncomfortable. How vulnerable she was right then. With tears in her eyes, susceptible to internal wounds with even the most simple of harsh words, all she felt like doing was disappearing from the face of the earth. She stood up to leave for the bathroom, but was interrupted by the entrance of seemingly hundreds of reporters invading the lounge. The sticking of microphones in their faces and blinding them with camera flashes only served to add insult to injury.

"Tsumejima-san, how do you feel about your loss?"

"Tsumejima-san, is it true than you and Ijuuin-san are an item?"

"Tsumejima-san! Do you think you could have won if you hadn't protected Ijuuin-san?"

Tsumejima-san!"

Tsumejima-san!"

The words, the world, everything around her began to blur and she began to feel light headed. Suddenly, without warning, she collapsed. A few of the reporters caught her, causing the rest to back off. Rukku had seen what had happened and immediately took the girl from the media sharks.

"Someone call an ambulance! Everyone else, get out." Nobody moved. "NOW!" He barked fiercely, causing the reporters to shrink away from the scene. A male intern stayed, and knelt beside the girl, checking her pulse.

"I'm a trained paramedic, I can help. We just need to get her to lie down on her side, with her heart above her head, preferably with her legs propped up. I'm going to need a cool, damp towel. Rukku nodded, then ran off to the bathroom to fetch the said supply. Once he returned, Kana was placed on her side, along the row of chairs, and her legs were propped up across the intern's lap. He handed the damp towel to the paramedic, who then used it to dot Kana's face and neck. "She'll be fine. She's breathing. Doing this will get the blood flow back to her head and placing her on her side prevents the tongue from sliding back into the throat, which could cause a potential breathing problem" the intern explained. Rukku nodded, and continued to watch over her from his seat on the coffee table.

After a minute or so, The brunette stirred. "Wha...what happened?"

"You fainted." The paramedic replied. Kana tried to get up quickly, but the intern held her still. "Move slowly. If you move too fast, you might faint again."

Kana nodded, then slowly sat up in her seat. "I guess I was just overwhelmed."

"Did you eat breakfast?" The paramedic asked.

Kana nodded, "I'm not anorexic or anything either. Just...overwhelmed."

"I bet. You fought for ten minute straight! You guys were awesome."

"But we didn't win." Rukku said sternly, looking past them, out the glass windows.

"So? You were a semi-finalist. Someone had to lose, and with your battle, I'd hardly call that a loss at all. In a way, you've already won by getting this far." The intern noted, then looked at Kana, "I'm just honored to have been able to help you, Tsumejima-san"

"Oh please." Kana flushed a bit.

Rukku looked at the intern with a death glare. "Thank you for your assistance, but you can leave now."

The brunette couldn't help but laugh. _Protective, aren't we? No matter. Even if we lost, I apparently still have his heart. In that case, that guy is right, I really didn't lose, _ she thought to herself as the intern escorted himself out. Not without a wink to Kana as he shut the door, of course. Kana was a little thankful that Rukku didn't see this, as she determined he most likely would have killed the paramedic on the spot.

Patting the seat beside her, she beckoned him to sit by her. "A nice little comment isn't going to steal my heart, Rukku." She laughed as he sat down.

Looking a little embarrassed at his outright rude attitude to the intern, he cleared his throat, "So…it was obvious?"

"Completely. But congrats. You probably gave him the story of the century." She smiled, and quite irresistibly in his mind.

For a moment he forgot all about the match. Even if his earlier words were only meant to trick Enzan, they were true. Even though they didn't win, he was still glad he got to meet this amazing young woman. And as she cuddled against him, he realized that even if he lost the battle, he stole away from his rival the best prize anyone could be awarded: love.

**0000000**

Enzan and Netto were kept on opposite sides of the arena during the few minutes prior to the battle. During this time, they were allowed no visitors, and, in Netto's case, were meant to use those minutes to figure out their chip strategy. But Enzan had already set that in place, and instead, used the time for something else.

"Are you sure about this Enzan-Sama?" Blues asked hesitantly.

But Enzan didn't respond. Of course he was sure. To some, it may have seemed a bold and brash move to make, but Enzan _always_had a plan. Life without a plan was chaos, but if chaos was the plan, then life was in order.

He stood behind the door to enter the battle field. He watched the timer count down from thirty seconds, clenching his fists, his nails digging into his palms. His blood was on fire, his gut swimming. But he wouldn't let anyone know this. No, not even himself. And when he pulled the door open, stepped out into the light, he refused to admit he was nervous.

Netto walked onto the battlefield, only to have his jaw drop in astonishment. He gave Enzan a bewildered expression, but the said only smirked. _Enzan, what are you doing!?_

But it wasn't until the match truly began that the whole crowd seemed to pull the air out of the arena with large gasps. When the crossfusion had taken place, and the smoke had cleared, there was Enzan and Blues, crossfused, _and no design chip to cover up their identity. _As they leapt into battle, Enzan could hear the numerous questions from the audience and the commentators.

"Ribbita, are you seeing what I'm seeing? That looks like Ijuuin Enzan's navi, Blues!"

"It can't be! Perhaps he's trying to honor the N1 Grand Prix battle, where Hikari Netto and Ijuuin Enzan battled fiercely to the end. " Ribbita tried to explain.

"Well he certainly did a good job with the costume job. When he walked out on stage, I could have sworn I was seeing Enzan standing there!"

"Come to think of it, the two look eerily similar!"

In the battle, Enzan and Netto faced each other with the same intent on winning as they had years before.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm tired of hiding, Netto. I don't have any reason to anymore."

"What do you mean? Ack!" Netto was sent flying by a bamboo sword.

"Stop acting so innocent!" Enzan growled, charging after the brunette. At this point, the brunette was just getting pounded.

From behind the Television at Sci-lab, Haruka held onto her husbands arm with worry.

"What on earth is he doing?!" she exclaimed in a whisper.

"I don't know…I just don't know." he shook his head.

And as Kana and Rukku watched in the lounge, the younger Ijuuin looked somewhat pleased.

"But I thought your brother died in a car crash…" Kana thought out loud, trying to process what was going on.

"No…" Rukku finally spoke, causing the brunette's eyes to go wide.

"So…is that him?" she asked, holding onto his every word.

"That's him alright. That's the guy that murdered my father." He clenched his fists.

"What?! What do you mean!?"

"My father kicked him out of our company, and Enzan made it a point to get revenge for something my father didn't do."

"What did Enzan think he did?"

"He thought that my father murdered his mother. Enzan's only my half brother. We have the same father, but different mothers. Enzan thought our father murdered his mother. He was brainwashed by his half-sister, who's related to him through their mother."

"If you knew this, then why hasn't he been arrested?"

"No one could prove he was alive, and if we did, we'd have to admit that my father kicked him out of the company."

"Why did he do that?"

"Enzan had been acting like he wanted 'out', and I wanted to be VP, so our father traded our positions, but was rather harsh about it. Enzan never came home that night, and we think he and his sister joined Vengeance to take him down." He remained silent a little, keeping his eyes fixed on the television.

"So the Sharro girl is his sister?"

"Yep."

"I thought her navi looked similar to Blues. I saw she had the same insignia too, but I thought it was just a coincidence. Now it makes sense."

They sat in silence with two completely different emotions weighing on their hearts. Rukku was almost overjoyed at Enzan's nonverbal admittance to being alive, while Kana was outraged at Enzan for being a murderer. Enzan was obviously dominating Netto during the battle, but this was now a trivial matter to the young ICP President, who couldn't wait for the battle be over.

The time soon came as Enzan unleashed his bloody quartet against Netto, who had very few health points left. Netto was outraged. Not at the fact that he lost, but at the evil grin that seemed to have taken over his (former) boyfriend. Something was seriously wrong, and it was times like this, when Enzan would close up about it, that it drove Netto insane. But acting so brazenly was never one of Enzan's qualities, and it only served to make the brunette like this new, and rather insane, Enzan, less.

And so the battle was over. Enzan was presented with a trophy and Netto, a silver medal. Once this nice little ceremony was over, the piles of questions began.

**000000**

Dun dun dun! And as a special little treat, I have uploaded two chapters for your reading pleasure. :

Just a few notes about this chapter: The street names at the beginning of the chapter (where Miyuki's antique shop is located) mean destiny :P just a little play on words.

Also, I've been carefully studying the zodiac lately, and no, I don't know if Laika's really a Virgo or Enzan a Capricorn. I just tried to match each one as best as I could to a zodiac personality. Enzan was a bit easier because I have the advantage of knowing first hand of what a Capricorn is like (hehe…'cause I am one :P) They're VERY determined and solitary people, and have a witty, dry sense of humor. I also had a relationship that worked out very well that was with a Cancer, and they tend to be somewhat loud but very emotional people. I see Netto as more of an emotional person than a loud one, so that's why I assigned him to Cancer (it was either that, or Leo, but I know as a Capricorn, that Leo's drive me insane). I chose Virgo for Laika because they're very analytical, responsible and dignified people, their key colors are green and blue, but they're also honest and gentle with the ones they love (Sarena anyone:P). Also, Virgo is an earth sign, which will come in later. While reading up on the zodiac profiles, I found Sarena to be the easiest to match, simply because she completely reflects an Aries.

Last but not least, I thought it was necessary to put a disclaimer in here that the lyrics to the song mentioned earlier are not mine, but belong to Linkin Park (which is the GOD band of all music. Nuff said. :P)

So go on, read the next chapter!!


	10. A World in Shock

**Chapter 10: A World in Shock**

**00000000**

"Sokatishe-san! What is the meaning of your performance? Why did you dress up as Ijuuin Enzan?"

The said fellow had his back turned to the press, but then turned calmly. "Because…I am Ijuuin Enzan."

"But that's impossible, he died in a car crash!" a frantic reporter announced.

"No. My father covered it up to look like I died in a crash. He actually just fired me, kicked me out of the family, and gave my position over to my step-brother, Rukku."

At this point, Rukku and Kana had been asked to join the scene. (Well, mainly Rukku, but of course, Kana tagged along)

"Ijuuin-san, is this true?" The reporters all faced their microphones to the younger brother.

"It is. He has gone by the Alias of Sokatishe Ryuke not only to cover this up, but so he wouldn't be questioned about our father's murder, in which he is responsible for." Rukku shot him a death glare.

"Sokatishe-san, is this true!?"

Enzan looked at Rukku, then at Netto. "Hai. This is true."

Behind televisions everywhere, people were in shock. This hero, this person of high reverence, committing such a crime…they couldn't believe it. Sarena was dumbstruck, Yuuchiro was at a loss, Haruka was sobbing, Kotyro was slapping his head in frustration, and the rest of the world had no idea how to react to such a confession.

"Ryuke, what are you saying?!" Netto exclaimed.

"Hikari-san, did you know about this?!" A reporter shoved a microphone in his face.

"I…I-"

"No. He didn't know. I've kept it a secret from everyone and single-handedly murdered my father." Enzan confessed falsely.

"Too bad. And his relationship with Hikari Netto was obviously a mess too." Rukku smirked.

Enzan glared, "You… YOU ASSHOLE!" He threw all his weight into punching the self-righteous brat. Rukku kicked Enzan's feet out from underneath him, sending them into a bloody fist-fight on the floor.

"Enzan, STOP!" Netto tried to peel the older one off the younger, who at this point had taken most of the damage. He managed to separate the two, but received a punch in the face in the process.

"Everything was fine before you came along, Rukku!" Enzan nearly screamed.

"It's not my fault that he loves me more than you!" Rukku shot back.

"What?!" Netto exclaimed.

"Rukku, what are you saying?!" a female voice shrieked.

"What's going on?!" Netto demanded an answer.

"Oh shut up, Netto! I saw you kissing him!" Enzan finally sputtered out.

"WHAT?!" both brunettes voiced in unison.

"Rukku, tell me this isn't true!" Kana plead

_Oh crap. _ Now he was stuck. Would he tell the truth and save Enzan the heart-ache, or would he lie and get his revenge but lose Kana in the process.

"It's true." He replied.

By this point, higher officials had arrived at the scene to arrest the three of them: Netto, as he was a suspect, Rukku for withholding information from the police, and Enzan for being the murderer. Kana watched helplessly as they were carried away.

The press was ushered away by Kana's father, who had hurried over from Yellow Tech the minute he had heard the news. He embraced Kana and comforted her as she sobbed into his chest. _Rukku, how could you do this to me?!_

**00000000**

"We have to help them!" Sarena spoke quietly on the phone in the ladies bathroom.

"What are we supposed to do?! What if they find out about Vengeance?!" Kotyro yelled angrily.

"They won't. He said it was only himself. I'm not sure why he did this, but he must have some reason."

"By what I heard on TV, it sounds like Netto cheated on him with Rukku."

"What!? Netto would never do that!" Sarena exclaimed as much as she could in a whisper. She was the only one in the bathroom, but wanted to make sure no one outside would hear her.

"I don't know. But that must have been the reason why Enzan revealed himself."

"He probably felt like had no more reason to hide." She thought aloud. "We have to set this straight. We have to go back to the past and fix it soon, too."

"I'm sorry, Ena-chan, but I don't think there's anything our team can do."

She sighed aloud, "I just can't believe he did this."

"I know. I thought Red had some more sense than that. He never was an emotional guy."

"Well I better get going before the press realizes that they can question Laika."

"Talk to you later."

"Bye."

Sarena hung up the phone and walked out of the stall to the mirror. Splashing her face with water, she sighed, looking at her reflection. _Enzan, why did you have to do this?! _As she returnedto her fiancée, she whispered in a low voice to him, "We better get out of here. I just realized that the press may remember you're here and try to question you, seeing as they may remember you being a net savior along with Netto and Enzan."

"I thought about that while you were in there. Let's go." Laika nodded, and the two managed to get to the front door without being spotted. As they walked out into a crowded protest of people, however, she overheard something that made her stop.

"Serves those fags right!"

Clenching her fists, she turned, "who are you to judge their love life?"

"Mika, please, let's go..." Laika prodded.

"It's just sick and wrong, woman."

Sarena ignored Laika's pleading, "First off, it's not wrong. Love was never given a gender, so who are we to change that!?" she raised her voice, causing people to turn and watch. Laika tugged on her arm, but it was no use. "And second, my name is Tamika, not 'woman'. It sounds like you could use a little lesson in respect." She growled, then turned to walk away.

"Ho ho! I got told off by a weak little girl that couldn't even defeat the queers!"

She turned, looked at the insulter, then threw her fist into the civilian's face.

"Tamika!" Laika shouted, but she ignored him.

"You think you know it all, don't you? You think you can define love, like you know what it's all about. But you're just the same as all the other homophobes out there. 'No, homosexuals can't love, but you can find love at a _strip bar._' You people make me sick!" she shouted, causing a crowd to form around her and the man with the bloody nose. He swung at her, but she nimbly dodged him, kicking him in the groin. He fell to the ground, and she continued, "What injustice has the world come to today! People are put in jail for serving justice, the ones who will sacrifice their social image for the one that they truly love, are condemned. TELL ME!" She shouted, "What has this world COME TO!?"

She watched as the crowd began to part and officers surrounded her with handcuffs. She held out her hands obediently, but smiled. She looked into the eyes of one of the officers. "You think you're doing your job, locking me up like this, but you're not. You fail to see all those who are truly guilty."

Laika watched despondently as Sarena was arrested and carried away from the scene. The man with the bloody nose stood up, and looked at the Sharro soldier. "You've got one insane girl."

_Why does everyone have to go insane, on Valentines day of all days! _Laika thought in frustration as he dashed to his car.

**0000000**

Enzan, Netto, and Rukku sat in separate jail cells, all sitting silently. Enzan leaned against the corner, looking at the ground uninterestedly. It was only when he heard the clank of keys approach that he bothered to look up. His eyes widened as he saw Sarena being brought to his cell to be locked up with him. After the guard pushed her in, she huffed, then turned to Enzan.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

"Stood up for you and all the other homosexuals in the world. God some people are just so narrow minded." She shook her head. Then she turned to him with deep disappointment. "Why did you do it?"

"I have no reason to hide who I am anymore."

"Ko told me what you said. I don't think Netto kissed him."

"Rukku even admitted it, and I saw them." Enzan looked up to see Netto shaking his head in disbelief in his cell.

Sarena shook her head. "I don't believe it either."

They heard footsteps, and Sarena feared the worst. _Investigators…_

But it turned out, she was wrong. Instead, they were greeted by the presence of three blue haired females.

"Miyuki-chan, what are you doing here?" Netto asked.

"You've all gotten yourself in quite a bit of trouble." She spoke up.

"Who are you…further more, how did you get in here?" Rukku asked, walking toward the door of the cell and holding onto the bars.

"We…put the guards to sleep." Chiya explained briefly.

"We can change this situation, but you have to help." Miyuki offered.

"What do you mean?" Enzan asked.

"Sarena already told you. We need you all to come to the past." Atsuka spoke up.

As they took their time explaining, Laika and Kana both arrived at the jail at the same time. He held the door open for her as they hurried in, and she nodded a thanks. With a shriek, Laika rushed in after to see that the guards had all collapsed on the floor. She knelt beside one of them, but Laika stopped her.

"No, we can't wake them." he told her, and she looked at him dumbfounded.

"Why?"

"I…I don't know…" he thought for a moment. How _did _he know this? "I just know that we can't wake them." he said with confusion and hesitation in his voice.

Kana looked at him, then stood up. "Wait, I know you…you're the Sharro soldier…you're Tamika's Fiancée, right?"

"Well, that's if I can get her out of here…" he sighed then walked over to the computer. Scrolling down the list of names, he found which cell Sarena was being held in, then sprinted off in that direction. Kana did likewise, and ended up running alongside him down the rows and rows of criminals.

"Rukku-san, you must come with us, you are a vital part of the past." Kana overheard a female say as she rounded the corner. There, she saw Atsuka, Chiya, and Miyuki talking to the three of them.

"Ena-chan!" Laika ran past her to greet his Fiancée.

"I'm sorry, I just lost it and couldn't help but go off on that idiot."

"I know." He then turned to the Kuroi sisters, "what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to get these them out of here. We need their help in the past, or else their families will continue to be cursed."

"Whose families?" Kana asked, walking up alongside Laika

Atsuka's eyes widened. "The guards are waking up. Hurry, we must leave!"

"Everyone, take hands!" Miyuki instructed, and they formed a lopsided circle, with Enzan holding Sarena's, who held Laika's, who held Miyuki's, who held Netto's, who held Atsuka's, who held Chiya's, who held Rukku's. There was a space between Enzan and Rukku.

"Someone has to fill the gap or else we won't be able leave!" Atsuka exclaimed. Kana stepped forward, stretched out her arms, and took Rukku's hand in her left and Enzan's in her right. They could hear the guards coming, but the three females remained calm with their eyes closed. Suddenly, they all felt as if they were being put to sleep by a soft lullaby.

And where there were once seven people, there were none.

**0000000**

Enzan woke up to find himself to feel warmth flitting against his skin. As he opened his eyes, he saw the bright burning of a flame just a few feet above him. There, on a gold pillar, was an oil plate fueling the intense heat, in which he felt a strange affinity for.

Standing up, he looked around in wonder. _Where am I?_

Red bricks were the foundation, the walls, and the ceiling to the domed structure in which he was in. Pillars were placed along the walls, similar to the one previously mentioned, hosting round fires. A long red carpet lead from the door all the way across the circular room, to where the face of a lion was sticking out of the wall. In its open mouth was an oil plate, but no fire. A few feet in front of the lion was a podium with two prongs on top of it. The prongs were obviously meant to hold something, but the object was missing. A foreign text was inscribed lower on the side of the podium, but with a glance, he could not figure out for the life of him what language it was in.

He was startled by a female groan, which upon further inspection, was Sarena, who laid on the other side of the wide podium.

"Sarena!" Enzan ran over to her, helping her to wake up.

"uhn…where are we?" she asked groggily.

"I have no idea. Some sort of fire sanctuary, by the looks of it."

At the mention of fire, she became more alert. "This must be the elemental temple for the Kngdom of Pele." She rubbed her chin "Strange…I wonder why Rukku's not here…"

Enzan snorted, "I hope he got lost in the space time continuum."

Sarena glared at him, "You can't believe that he really would kiss Netto, do you?"

"Why not? I saw him."

"Maybe it was just someone who looked like Netto. Maybe he hired someone to fool you. You never know, but I don't believe Netto would cheat on you like that."

"Look, I don't want to talk about it. Lets just figure out how to get out of here." Enzan turned and began to head for the door.

"You can't be serious. The future needs us to change the past!"

Enzan turned and looked at her, "No, _you _ can't be serious. Even if we are able to go back there, Nothings going to change. I'm not going to get along with Rukku."

"Only because you're so goddamn stubborn!" she snapped.

"Whatever. Stay here if you want to. I'm going to find a way out." He scoffed, figuring she'd end up following him. But as he reached the doors, he felt the handles burn his hands. "Ow! What the heck?!" He looked at his hands, which began to blister, but then suddenly healed. Frowning, he put his hands on the handles once more, bearing the pain as he tried to open the door. But it was to no avail. The door simply would not budge.

"Destiny wants us to go back!" she exclaimed.

"What is it with you and destiny?" he snapped.

"Why are you acting like such an ass?" She crossed her arms.

"I dunno, maybe because everything I've been living for has been a lie, and no one believes me?"

"No one believes you because you're being irrational!"

"Irrational? You're the one who thinks we can go back in time and everything will be hunky dory! Who's being irrational here!?"

She looked at him as tears began to fall down her cheeks. "And now it's getting to us…"

Taken aback, he responded in a quieter tone, "What do you mean?"

"The curse! Don't you see? We never used to fight like this!" she looked down, "Even if Netto did break your heart, was that all you cared about? What about your sister? What about the person who would always love you no matter what? Am I not worth living for?" she looked at him hurtfully.

Enzan walked over to her and knelt down beside her "Ena-chan…I never thought of it like that...I'm sorry…" Standing up, he held out a hand and helped her onto her feet as well.

Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she nodded, then pulled him into an embrace, "I was just so scared that I was going to lose you."

Enzan held her close and patted her back. Suddenly, he was ashamed for acting so brash and was thankful for the second chance. Pulling away and wiping a tear off her cheek, he smiled, then finally said, "Alright, lets do this."

She looked at him doubtfully, "are you sure?"

"There's no time like the present to change the past." He chuckled inwardly at his little pun.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, "your jokes suck."

"I know. " he smirked, "but I made you laugh, didn't I?"

"True." She smiled.

"Now, there's an inscription here, but I can't seem to figure it out." Enzan pointed to the pillar.

"Huh, let me look at it." She knelt down, and ran her fingertips over the writing. "uhh…are you sure you can't read this?"

He cocked his head to the side, "what do you mean?"

"I can read this…perfectly…" she said hesitantly, realizing that the writing wasn't any type of Japanese she had ever seen. She waved her hand, beckoning him to examine the script closer. Sure enough, Enzan pulled away bewildered after reaching the end.

"I understand it too…this is really strange."

"Guess those three were right. We are the descendants." Sarena concluded. She took in a deep breath, "Well, you ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." He responded.

They both set their palms on the pillar, then began to chant the text that had been written.

"tsani ikadu corlato ishmhati dersitu handa! Porolva toswena imani gono retana soeyaya onoho! Ibi hanata sugyo!"

The stone pillar began to glow until it caught on fire. Their normal impulses would have told them to pull their hands back, but as the fire did not hurt them, they were more interested in the line of fire that led down the side of the podium, onto the floor, around the lion face, and into the oil bowl in the its mouth. The eyes of the lion began to glow, but the siblings still kept their palms on the podium. When the light in its eyes faded, they looked at each other with disappointment.

"Was that it?" Sarena asked.

"I guess…?" he responded, but then, something caught his eye. The prongs, once empty, now held a splendid and intricately crafted rod made of gold. At the top of the rod were several fire-shaped prongs, which held within a red-marble like orb. Where they had placed their hands, more inscription had appeared.

Enzan lifted the rod off of its holder and inspected it carefully. "Amazing…" he exclaimed with awe.

"This is it." Sarena placed her hand on the rod, and nodded to him to read the new text.

"Kahani sokainu, mokatshi kosu. Betasui xanta uyoi, vanahari qasina!"

**0000000**

Hm, what will happen next? If Rukku was affiliated with fire, why didn't he arrive with Sarena and Enzan? Moreover, what will happen to Kana and Rukku, now that he admitted to a lie? And if Laika wasn't supposed to go back in time, what is going to happen to him? Find out next chapter! ( /end cheesy commentary)

I've been meaning to write this chapter forever. And hooray to all of you authors who have revived the RM.EXE section! Kudos goes out to Atreyu the Slayer and Random Irony for their new stories. I highly encourage you all to read them. Les cuentos son muy bien! (and if you don't know Spanish, that means their stories are very good. :P)

Please review as you all have been doing so very kindly. It is you guys who make me want to stay up till 2 AM in the morning, just to write :) (Edit: and as I've gone through the second proof-reading, it's now 4 AM. Yay. XD)


	11. Ancestry in the Blood

**Chapter 11: Ancestry in the Blood **

**00000000**

Two Years Ago… 

The banquet was running smoothly. Guests of high esteem and class cluttered the floor as they mixed and mingled among the crowd. Rukku had just finished shaking hands with the head of one of IPC's smaller business partners and his wife. Really, he couldn't care less, but he knew that alliances made for stronger business connections, and were part of working his way up the career ladder. Not like being Vice President of the largest electronics company in Japan wasn't big enough already, but it had been given to him with just the snap of a finger. He wanted something he could work for, sit back, look at, and awe at.

As he stood there, his hands folded behind his back, waiting for the next bout of high-strung business people to greet him, his eye was caught by a yellow blur of grace—and it was headed right his way. A man was approaching him, followed by what was presumably his daughter.

"Ijuuin Rukku-san, it's an honor. I haven't had the chance to meet with you in person, but your father's told me all about you. I'm sorry to hear about your brother."

"Well it's a pleasure, Tsumejima-san." Rukku shook the hand respectfully, "and it's a shame, I never knew my brother much, so quite honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about his death." He paused, "but you as well. I'm sorry to hear about your wife."

At the mention, the brown haired girl behind the man looked away, wringing her hands in anxiety. Rukku looked at her, and her father followed his gaze.

"Oh, my apologies. Rukku-san, this is my daughter, Kana."

"A pleasure to meet you." Rukku held his hand toward the girl, who shook it lightly and daintily.

"You as well." She replied quietly.

"Oh, Rukku, Kana, will you excuse me a minute? I need to talk to someone real quick, and I see an opportunity right now." The father smiled, then walked away to talk to a man with a wispy grey beard. Kana watched him walk away, then sighed.

Rukku unconsciously began to study the girl. At this time, her brown hair reached to the middle of her back, which was showing ever so slightly through the strands of hair. The golden yellow dress she wore was a halter top and curved over her figure, down to just above her knees, and she wore matching gold strapped high heels. A gold necklace wrapped itself daintily around her neck and rippled over her collar bones. She had light brown eyes, almost yellow, which glowed like amber, still beautiful even in their sadness.

She didn't say much, and having not known her, he didn't know what to say either. So they sat in an awkward silence, watching others chat and mingle, until he finally spoke up. "How have you been?"

"Pardon me?" Kana asked, waking up from her trance.

"How have you been?"

"I've been doing alright…it's been a month since my mother passed away, so I'm still healing, but I'm doing better now." She put on a smile and replied, "How have _you_ been?"

"I'm sure better than you…Enzan-san and I weren't close or anything…truth be told, I only ever met him once. He was only my half brother, so we weren't really related either." He responded. He wasn't about to tell this stranger that he knew his half brother was still alive.

"Well at least your father still has a son. I couldn't imagine having to bury my own child." She looked off, a small tear beginning to escape out of her eyes. Little did Rukku know, every person she had talked to that night had brought up her mother's death, and she couldn't take it anymore.

Seeing her pain, he quickly changed the subject, "I saw that Yellow Tech's stocks went up, you guys seem to be doing quite well."

"We are, actually. This booster would really help us and the general public bolster security and navi defenses against viruses. It's so gracious that IPC is donating so much of the money raised to charity."

Just then, Shuuseki made his way over to Rukku. "Ah, I see you've finally met the vice president of Yellow Tech." He smiled, warmly, but so fake. "Kana-san, I just met one of your scientists, Tamika-san. I did not know you had a scientist come as a representative as well." He pointed over to a girl with black hair in a purple dress.

Kana shifted her said to the side, "I didn't know either. She must be from the division of human studies. We tend to not talk much with them, and they sometimes do things off on their own."

Rukku looked at the black haired female, who was now mingling with some other strangers._She seems familiar..._

**0000000**

Rukku took up his PET after his brief conversation with his father. _Promise me you will get revenge. _ He sighed, laying his back down on the bed with his PET drawn close to his heart. He never wanted to hurt Irae… it was just…his father. He loved his dad, and when Shuuseki had told him to punish her, truthfully, he was shocked. All his life he had gone along with the blind ignorance of childhood that led him to believe that father knew best. But…hurt his own navi? He had supposed that maybe his father wanted him to put Irae in her place, make her remember where she belonged, but perhaps it was a bit harsh.

He thought of apologizing, but put the thought aside as Irae had already gone to sleep. _I should probably get some shut-eye too…_

The next day, Rukku carried on with his work like nothing had happened. Irae stayed quiet, and it wasn't until the overwhelming quietness became so annoying that Rukku decided to speak up. "Irae, I'm sorry."

The pale navi looked up at her operator, green eyes much like his own shining with confusion. "p..pardon?"

Rukku looked away as he muttered the words again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so mean to you last night. It was cruel, and you didn't deserve it."

She didn't say anything for a minute, letting the words soak into her cyber skin, then finally responded, "Arigatou."

"Mhm."

**0000000**

In the Present… 

It was, in simple respect, what made Kana feel so vile and jaded. It was like the waking up from a pleasant dream of a fairytale, a dream cushioned by pure white clouds and mellowed by the hum of angels into a damnable living nightmare, which was indeed, life.

But for now she was in a foreign dream. A nightmarish resemblance of her current position, but with a tinge of surrealism, which made her incapable of validating her surroundings. For now, she was lying in the grass, the dew resting on her skin, along with her dress, a soft yellow dress that had a mix of Greek goddess and Asian princess. She was looking at the sky, watching the clouds pass her by. As they moved, they carried out a scene. First, her delivering of the papers to Rukku, followed by their first practice, then the dinner and the concert, and finally their kiss. The grass made a shuffling noise as feet walked through it, and her line of vision was broken by servant looking over her.

"Princess, the prince requests confidence with you."

She stood up and followed the young man. As she walked up the hill, she was struck with a magnificent view of the palace. Before she had a chance to take it all in, however, she was standing within that very palace, as if she was fast forwarded through time to this place, looking down at a young prince who was bowing to her. When he raised, she could see his face was covered in a white mask.

"Kana…"

"Why do you wear a mask?" she mumbled, the world beginning to fade away from her

"Kana!"

"Do not …delay…tell me….mask…"

"KANA!"

"Huh?! Wha?" She sat up suddenly, waking up from her strange dream. When her vision focused, she saw Atsuka looking at her intently. "Where are we?"

"The elemental temple for lightning, by the looks of it."

Kana stood up and looked around. She had never been here before, but it just all felt so…familiar.

"Is there a problem?" Atsuka asked.

"N-No…I just…got this dejavu sensation that I can't seem to get rid of." She shook her head, "Whatever."

"It's your inner spirit."

"My what what?" she looked confused.

"Alright, I'll put this simply. A long time ago, and we're talking in the context of a hyper advanced civilization, if that gives you any idea how long ago, there were four kingdoms that ruled over the elements: fire, earth, water, and lighting. The kingdom that ruled over water all fell ill and died, leaving the rest of the three to war with each other for kingship over that land. Pretty soon they just about killed everyone off, when the great judge passed by and bestowed a curse on the four ruling families: The Kuroi, the Ayanokouji, the Ijuuin, and the Tsumejima. Your family was the ruler over lightning, and your curse was that one female from every generation would be possessed with the spirit of the vengeful princess of Perun, which is the lightning kingdom. So basically, she's in you, and she is probably connecting with this place."

"What what what?!" She shook her head. "This is...this is insanity!"

"This is the truth." Atsuka responded calmly.

Kana took a deep breath, which stung her lungs with its intensity. She slapped her check to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She poked Atsuka. _Still not dreaming..._ she pinched Atsuka on the cheek. _No, I'm definitely not dreaming..._

Atsuka stood a bit annoyed. _Are all Perunians this dense?_

Kana finally responded when Atsuka raised her eyebrow. "So...then, what was the Ijuuin curse?"

"Division. Their family has always stood divided. Just look at Enzan and Rukku, Enzan and his father, his father and one of his other relatives, that happens to be Sarena's father."

"Sarena?"

"Tamika"

"Oh, right." Kana thought a minute, "why is the princess vengeful?"

"Well, the reason your generation was chosen to go back and fix things, is because the way things are right now, are so similar to the past, that you all would fit in your positions much easier." Atsuka paused for a minute, "The princess of Perun was enraged because the Prince of Pele had used her and betrayed her…"

"Rukku…" she thought aloud, looking up at the thunderous clouds, which were in essence, the ceiling.

"But whatever you do, you MUST forgive him, or else you won't stop the war and nothing will be fixed. If you do stop it, however, things in the present may change, including the death of your mother."

Kana's eyes lit up, "really? Could that happen?"

"It's more than likely. Shuuseki and his wife may also still be alive, my mother may still be alive, and the Ayanokouji family wouldn't suffer from any more crippling diseases."

"I see…" Kana thought, then nodded, "so how do we go back?"

Atsuka guided her through, pointing to the podium. When Kana walked around, however, she gasped.

"Hikari-san!"

Netto was slumped over on the other side, sleeping, despite the constant roars of thunder above. Well he was, until Kana reached over and shook him until he woke up. And thus, Atsuka had to explain everything over again until they could continue.

Netto slapped his face._Not dreaming..._ He poked Kana _still not dreaming..._ Then he pinched her on the cheek _ Nope, definitely not dreaming._

"Well you two would survive a fall off the Akihara Tower." Atsuka sighed with irritation.

"Why do you say that?" Netto asked

"Because you're so DENSE."

Kana crossed her arms, "Am not!" Netto just laughed sheepishly; he was used to being called that.

Atsuka ignored her, then pointed to the podium "Alright you two, read that text and we can get out of here."

Netto walked over to the podium and eyed the text, "I can't. I don't know…wait a minute…" he looked at it closer, "I've never seen this before, but yet I know exactly what it's saying.

Kana looked at it and gasped, "You're right! I can understand it too!"

"Then read it." Atsuka commanded.

The two did so, causing a similar reaction to what had happened in the Fire and Earth elemental temples. The brunettes ducked in fear of being hit by lightning, but Atsuka stood still, as if she was certain it would not hurt her. When the storm had cleared, Kana picked up the yellow rod that now sat in the holder.

"It's beautiful..." she whispered, running her fingertips over the rod, feeling every indentation of the symbols crafted on it. Everywhere else, the gold was smooth; it was like touching velvet. She felt a shiver run down her back, and promptly handed the rod over to Netto. "It's so strange, I keep feeling as if there was a sudden urge to just...I dunno. I feel as if I'm being lulled to sleep when I hold it."

Atsuka came over and put her hand on Kana's shoulder. "Then just hold onto his arm. Netto, read the new inscription."

As Netto began to speak, Kana felt the words begin to pour out of her mouth and over her lips uncontrollably. _Sleep...just sleep my dear...sleep...that's a good girl..._Kana began to close her eyes and she continued to talk, the lightning around them increasing tenfold. Clouds fell down around them until the point where they couldn't see anything. Not that it mattered; Kana had already fallen asleep.

**0000000**

"You can stand cold temperatures well, right?" Miyuki asked the aqua haired soldiers.

"Of course. I live in Sharro." Laika said as he walked around the temple, his hands in his pockets. To him, this was quite a set up. Whoever had this fantasy must have put billions of dollars into making these props. A narrow strip of platform was surrounded by clear, pure, pristine water that seemed to be endlessly deep. When Laika looked, the beautiful aqua faded down into a dark black abyss.

"I can't believe you still don't believe this." Chiya crossed her arms. "How dense can you get?"

Laika glared at her, "It's irrational. It simply makes no sense."

"Don't pester him, Chiya. It's no use, his mind is simply too narrow."

"How can you say that when I support my two best friends, who happen to be gay? I'm not narrow minded, I just don't believe in magic or fairy tales."

"See? He won't believe until he sees. Come on, Miyuki. Let him finally see our "fairy tale magic" in action then." Chiya smirked. Her black boots clacked on the tiled floor as she walked past Laika confidently to the podium. Behind it, in the center of the room, was a round water fountain that reached the top of the temple. The water fell over it with fluid grace, curving over it and spilling into the base of the fountain, which glistened with clarity.

She began to place her hand on the podium, then stopped, and beckoned Laika over with a smirk. The Sharro soldier rolled his eyes then walked over to her. She pointed to the text written on the podium.

"What does that say?"

"Hiyoso ahta'miks aywenta rwonad-" Laika suddenly froze. "What...what is that? I understand it...perfectly..."

"It is your ancestors ancient tongue. So you are a Matsuian. Funny how you deny magic, yet it's so strong in your blood." Chiya smiled innocently yet devilishly at the same time.

Miyuki sat down on the edge of the water fountain. While cupping her hand, she scooped some of the water out of the fountain and held it up to her lips. Blowing a fine stream of air, the water began to float away as little droplets morphed into the shapes of butterflies, before landing back into the water around. Then she took another scoop of water, and drank it.

"Drink" she commanded. "This is the purest water you'll ever taste. It's Iaso's water, known to heal any disease or ailment. It will also keep you strong."

Laika walked over. It wouldn't hurt, he was kind of thirsty anyways. He took a drink of the water and found it surprisingly refreshing.

"It's good, isn't it?" Chiya asked. "Especially for us Matsuians. Now that Miyuki's taken a drink, she won't be the one to die in our generation. And if you have a daughter, neither will she."

"What do you mean?" Laika asked, sitting on the edge of the fountain.

"One female in every generation of our family will die giving birth. Drinking the water of Iaso ensures that the one who drinks the water and their children will be safe from the curse. Because we had no way of preventing the war, Duo gave our family this special little treat to even the score."

"Why did he even punish you in the first place?"

"There was one coward, or perhaps two that survived in our family, yet did nothing to stop the war." Miyuki explained, "It could have been stopped if he or she had stepped up and taken the throne. Most likely there were two, because our family line is purely Kuroi, a direct descendant of the Matsu kingdom. You however, are more of a mixed breed of different families and lines, with some Matsu in your blood."

"Can we please get going? I'm getting bored." Chiya pouted.

"Go where?"

"To the past, obviously!" Chiya retorted. Laika rolled his eyes. "Hey, if you go, you'll be able to catch up with your fiancé."

At the mention, Laika promptly stood up, "Really?"

"Really." She smiled. "Now come over here." she pointed next to her, and Laika came over, followed by Miyuki. "Put your hand on the podium, and begin to read that."

Laika did as he was instructed, and soon the other two joined in. As he read, something moved in the corner of his eye. Looking up, he noticed the geysers that began to gush out of the water around, reaching the ceiling, then spilling back down anywhere they pleased. He couldn't will his arm to take his hand off the podium, and his mouth continued to rattle off the foreign text, as if it was being pulled out of him by some unknown force. Suddenly, white light began to erupt from the podium, and a silver rod took form, followed by two prongs that held it in its place. Miyuki quickly took the rod, and shouted out the text in an even more thunderous voice than anyone had ever heard. As Laika began to speak along, he felt as if his heart was on fire, but his consciousness was being drained out of him with every breath. The once calm waters around now ripped violently around the temple, spilling onto the floor and soaking their clothes. Everything began to look dark, and black...and...

**0000000**

Rukku lied in the grass, his hands behind his head. He could see her face so vividly. He could see her tears, her pain…and began to wonder if it was worth it. The way Enzan fought him so passionately…it was as if he really was fighting for what he believed in. The way Kana smiled and told him it was okay to lose…realizing they had gained so much more in the end. The way Irae curled up and cried the night he punished her, orders of his father. Was he really the one to blame?

Twirling a flower in his hand, he studied the pink petals which reminded him of the pink skirt Kana wore on their first date. The yellow middle of the flower reminded him of the ways her eyes would light up when she saw him. Overall, she was a flower, so beautiful and carefree—until he came into her life. When he last looked in her eyes, last held her hand, her radiance had dimmed, her color faded…it was all his fault. He had to make it right, but how?

"Irae, have you been able to reach any of the others?"

"No, there's no connection anywhere."

"Maybe there's a trick door out of here." He looked up at the heavy canopy covering the ceiling, then stood up. Turning to his right, Rukku spotted an altar covered with flowers and walked up to it. He stared at the text inscribed on it, but finally threw his hands up in frustration. "Irae, can you translate this?"

"I can try." She responded, then watched as the script was transferred into her PET via camera. She began to search through her numerous language programs, but even after scrolling through 432 languages, she shook her head, "There's none here. It must be really ancient."

"It's because you're of the fire kingdom."

The black haired teen turned on his heels at the sudden voice behind him. He was faced with a blonde haired lady, whose green eyes nearly matched her surroundings. She was dressed in a pink kimono, and her long hair was tied up in an intricate bun. Smiling warmly, she approached him and reached out her hand.

"I can read it for you, but you must take my hand."

"Who are you?" Rukku asked, "have you been here the whole time?"

She simply nodded, but extended her hand further.

Hesitating, Rukku took her hand, as she stepped in front of the podium. Taking a deep breath, she began to chant the words on the inscribed plaque. The canopy above began to open up, leaves flying every which way. Light shone in through the opening, spilling down onto the podium a blinding light. All around them flowers began to bloom, and those which had wilted away grew back to life. Rukku was so amazed at the beautiful foliage that had grown, that he hadn't even noticed the rose-gold rod sitting on two prongs on the podium.

"Did…did you just do that?"

"Destiny did, my child. Now hold onto this." She gave him one end of the scepter to hold, while she held the other.

Rukku did as instructed, and the woman began to chant again. Where leaves had fallen on the ground, trees began to grow; vines grew up the sides of the podium and on every uncovered wall. Light encircled the two, and in an instant, they were gone.

**0000000**

"Duo!" Netto exclaimed.

"Yes, that is his name, Hikari." Enzan smirked.

"Now you two, be nice." Sarena giggled.

"You sound like a mother, ena-chan." Laika wrapped his arms around his fiancé.

"Aww, how cute! I want a boyfriend!" Chiya giggled

"Maybe if you toned yourself down a little, you wouldn't scare every guy away." Atsuka rolled her eyes.

"Atsuka, don't quarrel." Miyuki scolded.

"Kana…I'm sorry…" Rukku walked toward the brunette.

"Sure, whatever." Kana looked away.

"Can I speak now?" Duo interrupted the eight of them, getting all of their attentions, "You are all here to change the past. Your lives are being torn apart by the curses of your ancestors, and the only way to lift them is to rewrite history."

"Why can't you just lift the curse?" Netto asked.

"It is against the laws of my nature; I can do no such thing. However, this I can do." The giant floating robot hovered over the young adults, who watched him with anticipation, "Miyuki has guided you all very well. You must not fight with each other, despite your previous grievances. You not only are preventing the war for your sakes, but all of your fellow clansmen. During this trial you will face many hardships, forces that will urge you to fight. Enzan, Rukku, you two are the two princes of Pele, and Sarena, you are the princess.

"Kana, you are the princess of Perun. You must take special care not to let the spirit of the vengeful princess take over you; if she does, there will be no stopping the war. Laika, Miyuki, Atsuka and Chiya, be very cautious of those who come into your kingdom; it is a foreigner who will spread the disease. You three girls are healers, while you, Laika, are a messenger."

"Will we recognize each other?" Sarena asked, squeezing Laika's hand, as if it were the last time she would hold it.

"Most likely not at first; you are taking the places of people who have already existed once. You will recognize each other by personality, however, and your individual ranks." Duo paused, leaving the eight of them climbing over silence to hear what the over-sized robot had to say. "All of you…the day of the war is 134-19. The day you are arriving is 133-99. Be careful, and forget your past vengeances."

**0000000**

Ugh, was that cheesy or what? And I honestly haven't forgotten about this story! I will finish it, I promise! I had my birthday, my mom's and my dad's the last two weeks, so those few nights I didn't do homework set me back quite a bit this month and piled me with homework. I hate the "I've been so busy" excuse, but seriously, I have been. I will try to update more frequently, but I can't make any promises.

Oh, and check out my profile. Atreyu-the-slayer and I are writing a new short fic on so if you love lemony scenes with your favorite net saviors, you might want to read ;) We'll be hosting it soon there, so head on over to my profile for more details. Tis all, thank you and goodnight! (oh and, review!)


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